Cognitive impairment improves the predictive validity of physical frailty for mortality in patients with advanced heart failure referred for heart transplantation

The aim of this study was to identify whether the addition of cognitive impairment, depression, or both, to the assessment of physical frailty provides better outcome prediction in patients with advanced heart failure referred for heart transplantation (HT). Beginning in March 2013, all patients with advanced heart failure referred to our Transplant Unit have undergone a physical frailty assessment using the Fried frailty phenotype. Cognition was assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and depression with the Depression in Medical Illness questionnaire. We assessed the value of 4 composite frailty measures: physical frailty (PF ≥ 3 of 5 = frailty), “cognitive frailty” (CogF ≥ 3 of 6 = frail), “depressive frailty” (DepF ≥ 3 of 6 = frail), and “cognitive-depressive frailty” (ComF ≥ 3 of 7 = frail) in predicting outcomes. Frailty was assessed in 156 patients (109 men, 47 women), aged 53 ± 13 years, and with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 27% ± 14%. Inclusion of cognitive impairment or depression in the definition of frailty increased the proportion classified as frail from 33% using PF to 42% using ComF. During follow-up, 28 patients died before ventricular assist device implantation or HT. Frailty was associated with significantly lower ventricular assist device- and HT-free survival, with CogF best capturing early mortality: 12-month survival for non-frail and frail cohorts was 81% ± 5% vs 58% ± 10% (p < 0.02) using PF and 85% ± 5% vs 56% ± 9% (p < 0.002) using CogF. Combining the Depression in Medical Illness score with PF or CogF did not strengthen the relationship between frailty and mortality. The addition of cognitive impairment to the assessment of PF strengthened its capacity to identify advanced heart failure patients referred for HT who are at high risk of early death

Reversibility of frailty after bridge-to-transplant ventricular assist device implantation or heart transplantation

Background.We recently reported that frailty is independently predictive of increased mortality in patients with advanced heart failure referred for heart transplantation (HTx). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of frailty on short-term outcomes after bridge-to-transplant ventricular assist device (BTT-VAD) implantation and/or HTx and to determine if frailty is reversible after these procedures. Methods. Between August 2013 and August 2016, 100 of 126 consecutive patients underwent frailty assessment using Fried’s Frailty Phenotype before surgical intervention: 40 (21 nonfrail, 19 frail) BTT-VAD and 77 (60 nonfrail, 17 frail) HTx— including 17 of the 40 BTT-VAD supported patients. Postprocedural survival, intubation time, intensive care unit, and hospital length of stay were compared between frail and nonfrail groups. Twenty-six frail patients were reassessed at 2 months or longer postintervention. Results. Frail patients had lower survival (63 ± 10% vs 94 ± 3% at 1 year, P = 0.012) and experienced significantly longer intensive care unit (11 vs 5 days, P = 0.002) and hospital (49 vs 25 days, P = 0.003) length of stay after surgical intervention compared with nonfrail patients. Twelve of 13 frail patients improved their frailty score after VAD (4.0 ± 0.8 to 1.4 ± 1.1, P < 0.001) and 12 of 13 frail patients improved their frailty score after HTx (3.2 ± 0.4 to 0.9 ± 0.9, P < 0.001). Handgrip strength and depression improved postintervention. Only a slight improvement in cognitive function was seen postintervention. Conclusions. Frail patients with advanced heart failure experience increased mortality and morbidity after surgical intervention with BTT-VAD or HTx. Among those who survive frailty is partly or completely reversible underscoring the importance of considering this factor as a dynamic not fixed entity