Frailty linked to increased postop mortality

Editor's Note

Preoperative frailty was associated with a significantly increased risk of 1-year mortality after surgery, this study finds.

Of nearly 203,000 patients included in the analysis, 6,289 were frail. Within 1 year of surgery, 13.6% of the frail and 4.8% of the nonfrail patients died.

The association between frailty and postoperative mortality demonstrated an increased risk for death:

• on postoperative day 3
• as patient age decreased
• after total joint arthroplasty.

Importance Single-center studies identify frailty as a risk factor for 30-day postoperative mortality. The long-term and population-level effect of frailty on postoperative mortality is, to our knowledge, poorly described, as are the interactions of frailty with important predictors of mortality. Objective To measure the population-level effect of patient frailty on, and its association with, 1-year postoperative mortality.