Background: Precise evaluation of the degree of frailty is a fundamental part of the global geriatric assessment that helps to avoid therapies that could be futile. Our main objective was to determine the prevalence of frailty in a specific consult of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement.
Methods: From May 2018 to February 2020, all consecutive patients ≥75 years old, with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, undergoing valve replacement in the Principality of Asturias (Northern Spain) were evaluated.
Results: A total of 286 patients were assessed. The mean age was 84 ± 4.01 years old; 175 (61.2%) were female. The short performance physical battery score was 8.5 ± 2.4 and the prevalence of frailty was 19.6% (56 patients). In the multivariable analysis, age, Barthel index and atrial fibrillation were independent predictors of frailty.
Conclusions: The prevalence of frailty in our sample patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, evaluated by a standardized protocol, was 19.6%.
Keywords: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVR); aortic stenosis; frailty; transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI).