Frailty changes after cardiac surgery: better or worse?

Cardiac surgery, as an intervention to repair cardiac pathology, may improve frailty, but the evidence is limited. This secondary analysis explored changes in frailty before and 6 months after cardiac surgery.

The study included 273 adults with pre-surgery frailty phenotypes. Frailty was measured using the Fried frailty scale before and 6 months after surgery. Frailty after cardiac surgery was classified as ‘better’, ‘similar’, or ‘worse’ compared to baseline. Odds of frailty change at 6 months postoperatively (‘better or similar’ vs. ‘worse’) were calculated. After excluding 12 deaths and 49 losses to follow-up, 212 participants were analysed. At 6 months post-surgery, 92.5% either maintained or improved their frailty status, while 7.5% experienced worsening. Notably, 79.4% of the frail participants improved their status. All participants were more likely to have a ‘better or similar’ frailty status compared to a ‘worse’ status [odds: 12.25 (95% CI: 7.36–20.39)]. In a worst-case scenario analysis (n = 273), where deaths and missing frailty status were reclassified as ‘worse’ status, 71.8% showed ‘better or similar’ frailty status, whereas 28.2% had a ‘worse’ status. All participants remained more likely to have a ‘better or similar’ frailty status [odds: 2.55 (95% CI: 1.96–3.31)].

This study revealed that the majority of participants alive at 6 months experienced either better or similar frailty status postoperatively. The worst-case scenario analysis supported this trend. These findings suggest that cardiac surgery, when survived and tolerated, may contribute to frailty improvement.