Frailty and Mortality in Hospitalized Older Adults With COVID-19: Retrospective Observational Study.
Robert De Smet, Bea Mellaerts, Hannelore Vandewinckele and 9 others
PMID 32674821WHAT IT FOUND
Hospitalized older adults with COVID-19 who died were older and had higher frailty scores, but many severely frail patients survived.
Age or frailty alone did not reliably predict death.
Key findings
01Patients who died were older and had higher frailty scores than survivors.
02Frailty was associated with mortality, but 72% of severely frail patients survived and the frailty score alone had poor specificity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 81 patients from one hospital in Belgium were studied, so the results may not apply to other settings. The data were collected retrospectively from electronic health records, so missing information and limited follow-up could bias the results. The study included only older adults admitted to geriatric care; younger or nonfrail patients were not assessed for frailty. The associations observed are not proof that age or frailty caused death. Some analyses were likely underpowered. The authors note that further research is needed to confirm the reproducibility and reliability of the frailty score.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use age or a frailty score alone to predict death or restrict care. The study found only weak associations, and the frailty score had poor specificity with no useful cut-off.