Use of the FRAIL Questionnaire in Patients With End-Stage Kidney Disease.

backgroundFrailty is a clinical phenotype of decreased physiologic reserve that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The most meaningful way to assess frailty in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is unknown.

objectiveTo assess the prevalence of frailty in ESKD patients using the easy-to-administer FRAIL scale and, to determine its association with mortality, transplantation, and hospitalization.

designA cohort study was used.

settingThe Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, was the setting of this study. PATIENTS: All eligible adult ESKD patients treated with dialysis from August to November 2017 at The Ottawa Hospital were invited to participate. MEASUREMENTS: The FRAIL scale.

methodsEligible patients completed an exercise survey with FRAIL questions embedded within the instrument. Number of comorbid illnesses was determined from the electronic medical record and weight loss was calculated from target weight in the patients' dialysis prescription. Mortality, transplant status, and hospitalizations were ascertained from the electronic medical record 18 months later; differences by frailty status were evaluated using descriptive statistics. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models were used to examine the association between frailty and transplant.

resultsOf 476 ESKD patients screened, 261 participated; 101 receiving peritoneal dialysis, 135 intermittent hemodialysis, and 25 home hemodialysis. Thirty-nine, 145, and 77 were frail, pre-frail, and not frail, respectively. Employment status, ethnicity, and comorbid illnesses differed significantly by frailty status, but mortality did not. In univariate analysis, frail patients were less likely to be listed for ( LIMITATIONS: Single-center design with a relatively short follow-up and small sample size limiting the number of variables that could be assessed in analysis. We also excluded patients who were unable to communicate in English or French and those patients with physical limitations such as amputations, potentially affecting generalizability.

conclusionsFrail ESKD patients as identified by the FRAIL scale are less likely to receive a renal transplant; this association diminished statistically after adjusting for age and modality and when accounting for the competing risk of death. Frail patients were at increased risk of hospitalization. Further study with larger patient numbers and longer follow-up is needed to determine the usefulness of the FRAIL scale in predicting adverse outcomes.

trial registrationNot required as this was an observational study.