Even low-risk procedures pose hazards for frail patients.
Frailty, defined as accumulation of physiologic deficits leading to overall deconditioning, has been linked to adverse outcomes in elective surgeries and high-risk procedures. However, the effects of frailty have not been studied in the emergency setting. In this retrospective study, researchers used a U.S. surgical quality-improvement database to describe the role of frailty (using the Modified 5-Item Frailty Index) in 47,000 older patients (age, ≥65) who underwent emergency general surgery procedures within 48 hours of admission.
Among 17,000 patients who underwent low-risk emergency surgical procedures, 17% experienced postoperative complications by 30 days: Failure to rescue (defined as mortality within 30 days of a complication) occurre…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning
Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)
Editorial BoardsDiagnosis
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning
Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)
Editorial BoardsDiagnosis
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter