Return to daily life Early mobilization program Comprehensive CR (disease management program) Discharge from hospital, Return to home Maintain comfortable life, Prevention of recurrence Returning to society-workforce, Establish new healthy lifestyle Inpatient rehabilitation program (CCU/ICU/ward) *Notation of corporation is omitted.

Background In patients with heart failure (HF), physical frailty should be assessed to enable risk stratification. No conventional frailty criteria have so far been developed considering HF-specific outcomes. This study aimed to propose a frailty-based prognostic score using a nationwide cohort study of Japanese patients with HF. Methods We analysed 2721 patients hospitalized for HF and capable of walking at discharge (median age: 76 years [interquartile range 67-83], men: 60.5%). Physical frailty was evaluated at discharge using four quantitative measures: usual walking speed, grip strength, Performance Measure for Activities of Daily Living-8 (PMADL-8), and Self-Efficacy for Walking-7 (SEW-7). The primary outcome was a composite of HF rehospitalization and all-cause mortality within 2 years. A cut-off point was identified for each measure using receiver operating characteristic analysis in a derivation cohort (n = 1778). Cox proportional hazards model was used to assign a score to each frailty domain according to the correlation with the endpoint. Patients were divided into four categories according to the sum score, and survival was compared by analysing the Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox proportional hazards model. Cumulative incidences of the events according to frailty categories were compared between the derivation cohort and a validation cohort (n = 943). ResultsThe cut-off value and assigned score of each indicator was determined as follows: usual walking speed < 0.98 m/s = 4 points; grip strength < 30.0 kg (men) or 17.5 kg (women) = 5 points; PMADL-8 ≥ 21 points = 2 points; SEW-7 ≤ 20 points = 3 points. We stratified patients into four categories according to the sum score: Category I, ≤3 points; Categories II, 4-8 points; Category III, 9-13 points; and Category IV, 14 points. The prevalence and cumulative incidence of the composite outcome for Categories I to IV in the derivation cohort were 27. 4%, 25.2%, 26.4%, and 21.0%, and 9.5, 16.3, 26.3, and 36.8/100 person-years, respectively. Similar results were confirmed in the validation cohort. In Cox proportional hazards model, frailty categories were associated with the composite outcome independent of potential confounders (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] in reference to Category I: Categories II, 1.51 [0.84-2.72], P = 0.169; Category III, 2.37 [1.32-4.23], P = 0.004; Category IV, 2.66 [1.45-4.89], P = 0.002). Conclusions The frailty-based prognostic score proposed in this study was well associated with prognosis and will serve for risk stratification in patients with HF.

BackgroundHeart failure (HF) and frailty often co-exist, and frailty in HF results in a poor prognosis. However, in Asian populations, prognostic criteria are needed to examine the effect of frailty on HF. Therefore, we conducted a nationwide cohort study to develop frailty-based prognostic criteria in HF patients (FLAGSHIP). FLAGSHIP mainly aims to 1) develop the frailty criteria based on HF-specific outcomes, 2) propose a hypothesis of the potential mechanisms of frailty manifestations in HF, and 3) examine the effects of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation on frailty.MethodsIn this prospective study, we consecutively enroll ambulatory patients admitted because of acute HF or exacerbation of HF and elderly patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction (age ≥ 70 years). They will be followed up for 2 years to assess frailty and hard clinical events. The primary endpoints of FLAGSHIP are cardiac events including cardiac mortality and HF-related readmission after discharge. Secondary endpoints are readmissions because of fracture or pneumonia and all-cause mortality. We used clinical data, including the items related to the frailty phenotype to develop diagnostic criteria for frailty and known prognostic factors of HF. Cognitive function, depression, and anorexia are also considered as potential components of frailty. As of March 2018, 2650 patients (85% was patients admitted for HF) have been registered from 30 collaborating hospitals nationwide in Japan.DiscussionFLAGSHIP provides diagnostic criteria and fundamental information on frailty manifestations to develop the best practices for the long-term management of HF. Diagnostic criteria on frailty developed by FLAGSHIP is expected to become a novel indicator for the stratification of patients at risk to functional decline after medical or surgical treatment, and in turn to contribute to the best practices in the long-term management of HF.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-018-0897-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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