Association of cardiac structure and function with frailty in elderly inpatients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To assess whether cardiac structure and function are associated with frailty in elderly inpatients.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study.Inpatients aged 65 years or over, admitted to Beijing Hospital, Chinese PLA General Hospital and Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital, were consecutively recruited from September 2018 to April 2019.A total of 925 elderly inpatients were enrolled in the study, including 285 frailty patients and 640 non-frailty patients.Frailty was assessed with the Fried frailty phenotype.Clinical and echocardiographic data were collected.The association of cardiac structure and function with frailty was analyzed.Results:Compared with the non-frailty group, the frailty group was older, had lower body mass index, and had higher rates of heart failure, atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter, history of stroke/transient ischemic attack, renal insufficiency, and history of falls.N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP)levels were higher while creatinine clearance and hemoglobin levels were lower(all P<0.05); The frailty group had a larger anterior-posterior left atrial diameter[(37.8±7.1)mm vs.(36.3±5.1)mm, t=-3.134, P=0.002]and a higher proportion with the left atrial anterior posterior diameter ≥45 mm[15.8%(45/285) vs.6.1%(39/640), χ2=22.452, P<0.001], a lower left ventricular ejection fraction[(60.1±9.5)% vs.(61.9±7.5)%, t=2.817, P=0.005]and a faster peak mitral inflow velocity[(0.8±0.3)cm/s vs.(0.7±0.2)cm/s, t=-2.675, P=0.003]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the left atrial anterior posterior diameter ≥45 mm was an independent correlation factor for frailty( OR=2.249, P=0.015). Increased age( OR=1.099, P<0.001), heart failure( OR=1.786, P=0.049), history of stroke/transient ischemic attack( OR=1.960, P=0.001)and decreased hemoglobin( OR=0.984, P=0.008)were independently associated with frailty. Conclusions:The left atrial anterior posterior diameter ≥45 mm and heart failure were independently associated with frailty.Assessing cardiac structure and function and screening for cardiovascular diseases in frailty patients should be emphasized.