Self-Reported Frailty in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Introduction:Frailty can be defined as a decrease in functions, physical and physiological disabilities, causing physical and emotional dependence in the individual, which may progress to death, with the possibility of also being associated with hospitalizations, falls, and in some cases, a poor prognosis after some type of of surgery. In addition, frailty is conceptualized as an imbalance of systems causing a change in mood, cognition and functionality.Goal: To investigate the self-reported fragility of hospitalized patients.Methodology: This is a study with a quantitative approach, descriptive and cross-sectional. The research was conducted in the ward of a private hospital in the city of Montes Claros, MG, with a sample composed of 25 hospitalized patients. As instruments, the data collection form for sample characterization and the Edmonton scale that assessed frailty were used. The data were tabulated and typed in the Microsoft Office Excel 2016® program and the analysis will be performed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS) in version 25.Results: Of the 25 study participants, 52% were male and 48% were female. The general age range was from 40 to 90 years old with an average of 62.44. When assessing the self-reported frailty index of the individuals approached, 50% reported their health status to be fair, 23.1% to be poor and 26.9% considered it excellent/ very good. When frailty was verified, 30.8% presented mild frailty, 23.1% moderate frailty and 26.9% severe frailty. Conclusion:Based on the results found, it can be concluded that most hospitalized patients have some type of frailty, the study has a predominance of mild frailty, but when compared between the average days of hospitalization and the levels of classification of frailty according to the Edmonton scale there was no significant association