Background There is a growing interest in the intersection of heart failure (HF) and frailty; however, estimates of the prevalence of frailty in HF vary widely. The purpose of this paper was to quantitatively synthesize published literature on the prevalence of frailty in HF and to examine the relationship between study characteristics (i.e. age and functional class) and the prevalence of frailty in HF. Methods The prevalence of frailty in HF, divided into Physical Frailty and Multidimensional Frailty measures, was synthesized across published studies using a random-effects meta-analysis of proportions approach. Meta-regression was performed to examine the influence of age and functional class (at the level of the study) on the prevalence of frailty. Results A total of 26 studies involving 6896 patients with HF were included in this meta-analysis. Despite considerable differences across studies, the overall estimated prevalence of frailty in HF was 44.5% (95% Confidence Interval, 36.2%–52.8%; z = 10.54; p < 0.001). The prevalence was slightly lower among studies using Physical Frailty measures (42.9%, z = 9.05; p < 0.001) and slightly higher among studies using Multidimensional Frailty measures (47.4%, z = 5.66; p < 0.001). There were no significant relationships between study age or functional class and prevalence of frailty. Conclusions Frailty affects almost half of patients with HF and is not necessarily a function of age or functional classification. Future work should focus on standardizing the measurement of frailty and on broadening the view of frailty beyond a strictly geriatric syndrome in HF.

Introduction Heart failure (HF) is a heterogeneous symptomatic disorder. The goal of this study was to identify and link common profiles of physical and psychological symptoms to 1-year event-free survival in adults with moderate to advanced HF. Methods Multiple valid, reliable, and domain-specific measures were used to assess physical and psychological symptoms. Latent class mixture modeling was used to identify distinct symptom profiles. Associations between observed symptom profiles and 1-year event-free survival were quantified using Cox proportional hazards modeling. Results The mean age (n=202) was 57±13 years, 50% were male, and 60% had class III/IV HF. Three distinct profiles, mild (41.7%), moderate (30.2%), and severe (28.1%), were identified that captured a gradient of both physical and psychological symptom burden (p<0.001 for all comparisons). Controlling for the Seattle HF Score, adults with the “moderate” symptom profile were 82% more likely (hazard ratio 1.82 (95% confidence interval 1.07–3.11), p=0.028), and adults with the “severe” symptom profile were more than twice as likely (hazard ratio 2.06 (95% confidence interval 1.21–3.52), p=0.001) to have a clinical event within one year than patients with the “mild” symptom profile. Conclusions Profiling patterns among physical and psychological symptoms identifies HF patient subgroups with significantly worse 1-year event-free survival independent of prognostication based on objective clinical HF data.

BackgroundTreatment of heart failure (HF) is particularly complex in the presence of comorbidities. We sought to identify and associate comorbidity profiles with inpatient outcomes during HF hospitalizations.MethodsLatent mixture modeling was used to identify common profiles of comorbidities during adult hospitalizations for HF from the 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (n = 192,327).ResultsMost discharges were characterized by "common" comorbidities. A "lifestyle" profile was characterized by a high prevalence of uncomplicated diabetes, hypertension, chronic pulmonary disorders and obesity. A "renal" profile had the highest prevalence of renal disease, complicated diabetes, and fluid and electrolyte imbalances. A "neurovascular" profile represented the highest prevalence of cerebrovascular disease, paralysis, myocardial infarction and peripheral vascular disease. Relative to the common profile, the lifestyle profile was associated with a 15% longer length of stay (LOS) and 12% greater cost, the renal profile was associated with a 30% higher risk of death, 27% longer LOS and 24% greater cost, and the neurovascular profile was associated with a 45% higher risk of death, 34% longer LOS and 37% greater cost (all p < 0.001).ConclusionsComorbidity profiles are helpful in identifying adults at higher risk of death, longer length of stay, and accumulating greater costs during hospitalizations for HF.