Recovery of surgery in the elderly (ROSE) program: The efficacy of a multi-modal prehabilitation program implemented in frail and pre-frail elderly undergoing major abdominal surgery.

Background: Major abdominal surgery is associated with a high rate of post-operative complications with increased risk of adverse surgical outcomes due to the presence of frailty. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the multimodal Recovery of Surgery in the Elderly (ROSE) prehabilitation program with supervised exercise in mitigating postoperative functional decline when compared to standard care.

Method: The ROSE program enrolled ambulant patients who were 65 years and above, had a Clinical Frailty Scale score of 4 or more and were planned for major abdominal surgery.