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Frailty in advanced heart failure: a systematic review

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Abstract

Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome of increased vulnerability to adverse events. The prevalence of frailty among chronic heart failure (CHF) is high and confers a greater risk of adverse events including falls, hospitalisation and mortality. There have been few studies assessing frailty in CHF. A review of the key databases was conducted from 2004 to 2014 including the key search terms ‘frail elderly’ and ‘heart failure’. The following electronic databases were searched: Medline, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health and Academic Search Complete, with reference lists being manually searched. Articles were included if frailty was assessed using a valid measuring tool in a population with a confirmed diagnosis of CHF. The search yielded a total of 393 articles with 8 articles being selected for review. The prevalence of frailty among those with CHF was high, ranging from 18 to 54 %. The frailty phenotype and geriatric assessments tools were the most common frailty measures utilised; high rates of co-morbidity, hospitalisation and mortality were identified. Frailty is common in CHF and is associated with adverse outcomes.

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The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty Health, Centre for Cardiovascular and Chronic Care, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Sunita R. Jha & Phillip J. Newton

  2. St Vincent’s Clinical School, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Hakeem S. K. Ha

  3. Faculty Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Louise D. Hickman & Patricia M. Davidson

  4. Heart and Lung Clinic, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia

    Sunita R. Jha, Malin Hannu & Peter S. Macdonald

  5. School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Patricia M. Davidson

  6. The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, Australia

    Peter S. Macdonald

Authors
  1. Sunita R. Jha
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  2. Hakeem S. K. Ha
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  3. Louise D. Hickman
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  4. Malin Hannu
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  5. Patricia M. Davidson
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  6. Peter S. Macdonald
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  7. Phillip J. Newton
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Correspondence to Sunita R. Jha.

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Jha, S.R., Ha, H.S.K., Hickman, L.D. et al. Frailty in advanced heart failure: a systematic review. Heart Fail Rev 20, 553–560 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-015-9493-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10741-015-9493-8

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