Frailty Assessment in Heart Failure and Ventricular Assist Device Populations: A Review from the United States.

Importance: Post-operative risk is increased with frail individuals undergoing cardiac surgery. Yet, there is no consensus for frailty assessment prior to durable left ventricular assist device (dLVAD) evaluation.

Objective: The objectives of this integrative review were to describe frailty measures, examine psychometrics of measures used, and identify variables related to frailty in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and dLVAD populations.

Design, Setting, Participants: PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase databases were searched for terms related to frailty, HFrEF and dLVAD that met inclusion criteria.

Results: Fourteen articles met inclusion criteria. Frailty was inconsistently defined. The Fried Phenotype Criteria was the most widely used approach to measurement. Validity was reported in all articles. Variables related to frailty included readmissions, higher mortality and increased adverse events.

Conclusion: There was variability in frailty definition and frailty measurement across studies. Further research in HFrEF and dLVAD populations is needed for frailty evaluation.