Background: Frailty screening using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) has been proposed to guide resource allocation in acute care settings during the pandemic. However, the association between frailty and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prognosis remains unclear.Objectives: To investigate the association between frailty and mortality over 6 months in middle-aged and older patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and the association between acute morbidity severity and mortality across frailty strata.Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Large academic medical center in Brazil.Participants: A total of 1830 patients aged ≥50 years hospitalized with COVID-19 (March-July 2020).Measurements: We screened baseline frailty using the CFS (1-9) and classified patients as fit to managing well (1-3), vulnerable (4), mildly (5), moderately (6), or severely frail to terminally ill (7)(8)(9). We also computed a frailty index (0-1; frail >0.25), a well-known frailty measure. We used Cox A complete list of investigators in the COVID HCFMUSP Study Group is provided in Data S1.

Background Although frailty has been associated with atypical manifestations of infections, little is known about COVID-19 presentations in hospitalized frail patients. We aimed to investigate the association between age, frailty, and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in hospitalized middle-aged and older adults. Methods Longitudinal observational study comprising 711 patients aged ≥50 years consecutively admitted to a university hospital dedicated to COVID-19 severe cases, between March and May 2020. We reviewed electronic medical records to collect data on demographics, comorbidities, COVID-19 signs/symptoms, and laboratory findings on admission. We defined frailty using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS=1-9; frail ≥5). We also documented in-hospital mortality. We used logistic regressions to explore associations between age, frailty, and COVID-19 signs/symptoms; and between typical symptoms (fever, cough, dyspnea) and mortality. Results Participants had a mean age of 66±11 years, and 43% were female. Overall, 25% were frail, and 37% died. The most common COVID-19 presentations were dyspnea (79%), cough (74%), and fever (62%), but patients aged ≥65 years were less likely to have a co-occurrence of typical symptoms, both in the absence (OR=0.56; 95%CI=0.39-0.79) and in the presence of frailty (OR=0.52; 95%CI=0.34-0.81). In contrast, older age and frailty were associated with unspecific presentations, including functional decline, acute mental change, and hypotension. After adjusting for age, sex, and frailty, reporting fever was associated with lower odds of mortality (OR=0.70; 95%CI=0.50-0.97). Conclusions Atypical COVID-19 presentations are common in frail and older hospitalized patients. Providers should be aware of unspecific disease manifestations during the management and follow-up of this population.

Background Although COVID-19 disproportionally affects older adults, the use of conventional triage tools in acute care settings ignores the key aspects of vulnerability. Objective This study aimed to determine the usefulness of adding a rapid vulnerability screening to an illness acuity tool to predict mortality in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Design Cohort study. Setting Large university hospital dedicated to providing COVID-19 care. Participants Participants included are 1,428 consecutive inpatients aged ≥50 years. Methods Vulnerability was assessed using the modified version of PRO-AGE score (0–7; higher = worse), a validated and easy-to-administer tool that rates physical impairment, recent hospitalisation, acute mental change, weight loss, and fatigue. The baseline covariates included age, sex, Charlson comorbidity score, and the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), a well-known illness acuity tool. Our outcome was time-to-death within 60 days of admission. Results The patients had a median age of 66 years, and 58% were male. The incidence of 60-day mortality ranged from 22% to 69% across the quartiles of modified PRO-AGE. In adjusted analysis, compared with modified PRO-AGE scores 0–1 (“lowest quartile”), the hazard ratios (95% CI) for 60-day mortality for modified PRO-AGE scores 2–3, 4, and 5–7, were 1.4 (1.1–1.9), 2.0 (1.5–2.7), and 2.8 (2.1–3.8), respectively. The modified PRO-AGE predicted different mortality risk levels within each stratum of NEWS and improved the discrimination of mortality prediction models. Conclusions Adding vulnerability to illness acuity improved accuracy of predicting mortality in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Combining tools such as PRO-AGE and NEWS may help stratify the risk of mortality from COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: As the pandemic advances, the interest in the long-lasting consequences of COVID-19 increases. However, a few studies have explored patient-centered outcomes in critical care survivors. We aimed to investigate frailty and disability transitions in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: University hospital in Sao Paulo. PATIENTS: Survivors of COVID-19 ICU admissions. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We assessed frailty using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). We also evaluated 15 basic, instrumental, and mobility activities. Baseline frailty and disability were defined by clinical conditions 2–4 weeks before COVID-19, and post-COVID-19 was characterized 90 days (day 90) after hospital discharge. We used alluvial flow diagrams to visualize transitions in frailty status, Venn diagrams to describe the overlap between frailty and disabilities in activities of daily living, and linear mixed models to explore the occurrence of new disabilities following critical care in COVID-19. We included 428 participants with a mean age of 64 years, 57% males, and a median Simplified Acute Physiology Score-3 score of 59. Overall, 14% were frail at baseline. We found that 124/394 participants (31%) were frail at day 90, 70% of whom were previously non-frail. The number of disabilities also increased (mean difference, 2.46; 95% CI, 2.06–2.86), mainly in participants who were non-frail before COVID-19. Higher pre-COVID-19 CFS scores were independently associated with new-onset disabilities. At day 90, 135 patients (34%) were either frail or disabled. CONCLUSIONS: Frailty and disability were more frequent 90 days after hospital discharge compared with baseline in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. Our results show that most COVID-19 critical care survivors transition to poorer health status, highlighting the importance of long-term medical follow-up for this population.

Rationale Recent reports suggest that patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) often experience long-term consequences of the infection. However, studies on intensive care unit (ICU) survivors are underrepresented. Objectives We aimed to explore 12-month clinical outcomes after critical COVID-19, describing the longitudinal progress of disabilities, frailty status, frequency of cognitive impairment, and clinical events (rehospitalization, institutionalization, and falls). Methods We performed a prospective cohort study of survivors of COVID-19 ICU admissions in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We assessed patients every 3 months for 1 year after hospital discharge and obtained information on 15 activities of daily living (basic, instrumental, and mobility activities), frailty, cognition, and clinical events. Results We included 428 patients (mean age of 64 yr, 61% required invasive mechanical ventilation during ICU stay). The number of disabilities peaked at 3 months compared with the pre–COVID-19 period (mean difference, 2.46; 99% confidence interval, 1.94–2.99) and then decreased at 12 months (mean difference, 0.67; 99% confidence interval, 0.28–1.07). At 12-month follow-up, 12% of patients were frail, but half of them presented frailty only after COVID-19. The prevalence of cognitive symptoms was 17% at 3 months and progressively decreased to 12.1% ( P = 0.012 for trend) at the end of 1 year. Clinical events occurred in all assessments. Conclusions Although a higher burden of disabilities and cognitive symptoms occurred 3 months after hospital discharge of critical COVID-19 survivors, a significant improvement occurred during the 1-year follow-up. However, one-third of the patients remained in worse conditions than their pre–COVID-19 status.