Assessment of frailty status in patients with acute cerebral infarction and their relationship with serum markers.

Objective: Frailty status is closely related to cerebral infarction, but there is a lack of objective biomarkers to determine frailty status in cerebral infarction patients. This study explores frailty status and frailty-related serum markers in patients with acute cerebral infarction and determines their diagnostic value for frailty.

Methods: A total of 146 patients with acute cerebral infarction admitted to Hangzhou Third people's Hospital from January 2021 to December 2023 were enrolled prospectively. The Edmonton scale was used to evaluate the patients in the frailty and non-frailty groups. The clinical frailty scale (CFS) was used to divide frailty patients into mild, moderate, and severe frailty groups, comparing clinical data and levels of serum markers among different groups, and analyzing the risk factors for frailty in cerebral infarction.

Results: Among the 146 patients, 70 cases (47.9%) were in the frailty group, and 76 cases (52.1%) in the non-frailty group. Compared with patients in the non-frailty group, patients in the frailty group had significantly lower levels of hemoglobin, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, and albumin (P<0.05 or 0.01), while levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, and homocysteine (Hcy) were significantly increased (P<0.05 or 0.01). Logistic regression analysis found that the levels of hemoglobin and Hcy were independent risk factors for frailty in acute cerebral infarction patients, with the ROC curve areas of 0.707 and 0.751, respectively. The ROC curve area for predicting frailty by combining hemoglobin and Hcy levels was 0.799.

Conclusion: The incidence of frailty in patients with acute cerebral infarction is high, and serum markers of hemoglobin and Hcy have certain value in determining frailty in patients with acute cerebral infarction.