2025 National Teaching Institute Research Abstracts

Background: Frailty in critically ill patients is associated with outcomes such as intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay and death.Consequently, routine frailty screening of ICU patients has been suggested.However, few facilities conduct frailty screening as part of routine care, and the relationship between frailty and outcomes in critically ill patients remains unclear.Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of patients admitted to the ICU between April 2023 and March 2024.Frailty was classified using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), with patients categorized as nonfrail (CFS score 1-4) or frail (CFS score 5-8).The primary outcome was the difference in the in-hospital mortality rate between groups.The association between frailty and death was assessed by logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, sex, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and type of hospitalization.Results: Data on 483 patients were included in the analysis.The median age was 69 (IQR, 53-76) years, the median SOFA score was 7 (IQR, 4-10), and 317 participants (66%) were male.A total of 141 patients (29.2%) were evaluated as frail at ICU admission.The in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher in the frail group than in the nonfrail group (23.4% vs 8.2%; P < .001).After adjustment for covariates, frailty was associated with increased in-hospital mortality rate (adjusted odds ratio, 2.01 [95% CI, 1.02-4.00];P = .04).Discussion: In this study, 29.2% of patients were classified as frail at ICU admission, and frailty was significantly associated with an increased rate of in-hospital mortality.These findings are consistent with those of previous studies.Identifying frailty before ICU admission may support better decision-making, including treatment plan and goal of care.Conclusion: Frailty was present in 29.2% of patients at ICU admission and was associated with increased in-hospital mortality rate.