Clinical characteristics of frailty in elderly hospitalized in a ward specialized in geriatric psychiatry

Abstract

Fragility Syndrome (SF) causes a progressive decline in the health of patients older than 60 years, which is further aggravated when there is an associated psychiatric pathology due to the greater risk of hospitalization, falls and mortality. The SF can be evaluated through unit or multidimensional models with varied complexities, the most used being Fried's Phenotype, Frailty Index and FRAIL questionnaire. Objectives: To evaluate the demographic, clinical and psychiatric characteristics of FS in elderly patients with mental illness in a specialized geriatric psychiatric unit. To compare the results of two SF diagnostic tools with different complexities (Frailty Index and FRAIL questionnaire). METHODS: A cross-sectional retrospective using the medical records of psychogeriatric patients hospitalized at an American school hospital (Everett Hospital, Boston, USA) in two 30-day periods during the year 2019. Form of analysis of data and results expected: It is expected to find a high prevalence of FS in this population. We estimated a total sample of 250 patients collected. A pilot so far has able to collect data of 100 patients. The variables age, sex, ethnicity, type and number of psychiatric diseases, reason of hospitalization, hospitalizations in the last 12 months, number of psychotropic drugs in use and general medications, number of clinical diseases, number of falls in 12 months, Frailty Index 36 items ranking in mild, moderate and severe SF, and FRAIL questionnaire ranking in robust, pre-fragile and fragile.