Association of frailty and sarcopenia with short-term mortality in older critically ill patients

Background

There is still no study on the use of the SARC-CalF questionnaire for older critically ill patients. Moreover, there is limited evidence on whether a combination of sarcopenia and frailty can provide incremental improvements in risk stratification for older critically ill patients.

Methods

A total of 653 patients older than 60 years were recruited. We used the clinical frailty scale (CFS) and SARC-CalF questionnaire to assess the frailty status and sarcopenia risk, respectively, of older patients shortly after admission to the ICU. The effect of frailty and sarcopenia risk on ICU mortality and 30-day mortality was evaluated.

Results

A total of 147 (22.5%) patients died in the ICU, and 187 (28.6%) patients died within 30 days after ICU admission. The CFS score was associated with increased ICU mortality [per 1-score increase: odds ratio (OR) = 1.222, 95% confidential interval (CI): 1.003–1.489] and 30-day mortality (per 1-score increase: OR = 1.307, 95% CI: 1.079–1.583). The SARC-CalF score was also associated with increased ICU mortality (per 1-score increase: OR = 1.204, 95% CI: 1.120–1.294) and 30-day mortality (per 1-score increase: OR = 1.247, 95% CI: 1.163–1.337). The addition of the CFS + SARC-CalF score to Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II improved discrimination and reclassified ICU and 30-day mortality risk.

Conclusions

Sarcopenia risk assessed by the SARC-CalF questionnaire provided independent prognostic information for older critically ill patients. A combination of sarcopenia and frailty improved the prediction of mortality for older critically ill patients and thus might be useful in the clinical decision-making process.