Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40274508›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of anaesthesia2025

Frailty and long-term survival of non-cancer patients admitted to intensive care after surgery: a retrospective multicentre cohort study.

Ryo Ueno, Rachel Chan, Ryan Ruiyang Ling, Ryan Slack, Sandra Lussier, Daryl Jones, David Pilcher, Ashwin Subramaniam

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of anaesthesia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Prevalence and outcomes of frailty in emergency laparotomy: a single-centre cohort study.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Ryo UenoDepartment of Intensive Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Rachel ChanDepartment of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australia. Electronic address: dr.rachel.chan@gmail.com.
Ryan Ruiyang LingAustralian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Anaesthesia, National University Hospital, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore.
Ryan SlackDepartment of Intensive Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Sandra LussierDepartment of Intensive Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Daryl JonesDepartment of Intensive Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Surgery and Critical Care, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
David PilcherAustralian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Centre for Outcome and Resource Evaluation, Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Intensive Care, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Ashwin SubramaniamAustralian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Intensive Care, Peninsula Health, Frankston, VIC, Australia; Department of Intensive Care, Dandenong Hospital, Monash Health, Dandenong, VIC, Australia; Peninsula Clinical School, Monash University, Frankston, VIC, Australia; Department of Intensive Care, Epworth Healthcare, Richmond, VIC, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAs the global population ages and older patients undergo surgery, understanding the association between frailty and postoperative outcomes is crucial to informed decision-making and patient care. There is a lack of research assessing the association between frailty and long-term outcomes in patients admitted to ICUs after surgery.

methodsWe conducted a multicentre retrospective cohort study using Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database, linked with the Australian National Death Index. Adults aged ≥16 yr admitted to the 175 ICUs in Australia between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2022, after surgery were included. We excluded patients with cancer or admission to ICU for palliation or organ donation purpose. Patients with Clinical Frailty Scale score 5-8 were considered frail. The primary outcome was survival time up to 4 yr after ICU admission. Survival analysis was performed using mixed-effects Cox regression models and adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities, acute illness severity, and hospital types.

resultsWe included 216 922 patients of whom 30 860 (14.2%) were frail. Patients with frailty had shorter overall survival time (median [IQR]: 16 [6-29] vs 21 [10-34] months; P<0.01) when compared with patients without frailty. After adjusting for confounders, frailty was associated with a shorter time to death (HR: 2.33, 95% CI: 2.26-2.40). This association was consistent across sensitivity analyses and subgroups. Of note, this association between frailty and shorter time to death was more pronounced in patients aged <65 yr, those undergoing elective surgery, and those without treatment limitations.

conclusionsIn this multicentre study, frailty was associated with shorter time to death amongst postoperative ICU patients without cancer. The association was concordant across all subgroups.

Indexed as

Critical CareFrailtyIntensive Care UnitsPostoperative ComplicationsAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAustraliaCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNew ZealandRetrospective StudiesSurvival Analysisfrailtyintensive care medicinelong-term outcomeperioperative medicinepostoperative

Identifiers

PMID40274508
PMCPMC12106905

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.