Frailty Syndrome Prevalence and Its Correlation with Cognitive Function in Elderly Surgical Inpatients

Abstract

Background: Frailty is a geriatric syndrome, and a common negative consequence of aging, which shares some obvious characteristics as cognitive impairment. Preventing and relieving frailty may reduce the possibility of developing cognitive impairment. Objective: This study aimed to investigate frailty prevalence and its correlation with cognitive function in elderly surgical inpatients. Methods: We enrolled a random sample of elderly surgical inpatients from Jingzhou from June 2020 to August 2020. We used a self-made registration sheet to collect their demographic data (gender, age, nationality, educational level and monthly income), and used the FRAIL Scale to assess the prevalence of frailty, and used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess cognitive function. We used multiple linear regression analysis to explore the correlation between frailty level and demographic data, then Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between frailty and cognitive function. Results: In the 143 elderly surgical inpatients, prevalence of frail was seen in 29 (20.3%), and pre-frail state was found in 64 (44.8%). Only 50 (34.9%) were in healthy state. Cognitive impairment was seen in 28 (19.5%). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the frail scoring was correlated with cognitive function in elderly surgical inpatients (r = −0.378, P < 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of frailty is high in elderly surgical inpatients, which is closely related to age and gender. Elderly surgical inpatients have high cognitive impairment, and frailty appears strongly associated with cognitive status. The findings suggest that attention should be paid to the frailty and cognitive function in the elderly surgical inpatients by provision of effective interventions.