The Effect of Frailty on Hypotension After Anesthesia Induction

Frailty is defined as a state of weakness resulting from a decrease in physiological reserves due to physiological changes, diseases, and/or malnutrition associated with advancing age. Frail older adults face increased mortality, morbidity, and healthcare costs when exposed to stressors, making this issue increasingly important. The FRAIL Scale, developed by Morley et al. , is a 5-item measure that assesses frailty. The FRAIL Scale has been validated in many countries and has been proven to be an effective method for detecting frailty. This scale assesses the patient's fatigue, resistance, mobility, weight loss, and other diseases. In the 5-item FRAIL scale, patients receive 0 or 1 point based on their answers, and a total of 0 points is considered non-frail, 1-2 points is considered pre-frail, and >2 points is considered frail.

Frailty is associated with a higher risk of postoperative complications. Rothenberg and colleagues reported in a study involving more than 400,000 patients that frailty doubles the risk of postoperative complications .

Hypotension following anesthesia induction is a common complication in geriatric patients. Decreased cardiopulmonary reserve with age leads to an exaggerated drop in blood pressure during induction .

In this study, the investigators aimed to determine the effect of frailty level in geriatric patients on hypotension observed after anesthesia induction.