Frailty and associated outcomes and resource utilization following in-hospital cardiac arrest

In-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is common and associated with high mortality. Frailty is increasingly recognized as a predictor of worse prognosis among critically ill patients, but its association with outcomes and resource utilization following IHCA is unknown.

We performed a retrospective analysis (2013-2016) of a prospectively collected registry from two hospitals of consecutive hospitalized adult patients with IHCA occurring on the hospital wards. We defined frailty using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) score ≥5. CFS scores were based on validated medical review criteria. The primary outcome is hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes include return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), discharge to long-term care, and hospital costs. We used multivariable logistic regression to adjust for known confounders.

We included 477 patients, and 124 (26.0%) had frailty. Frailty was associated with increased odds of hospital death (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.91 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.37-3.48) and discharge to long-term care (aOR 1.94 [95% CI: 1.57-2.32]). Compared with patients without frailty, patients with frailty had decreased odds of ROSC following IHCA (aOR 0.63 [95% CI: 0.41-0.93]). No difference in mean total costs was demonstrated between patients with and without frailty ($50,799 vs. $45,849). Frail patients did have higher cost-per-survivor ($947,546 vs. $161,550).

Frail individuals who experience an IHCA are more likely to die in hospital or be discharged to long-term care, and less likely to achieve ROSC in comparison with individuals who are not frail. The hospital costs per-survivor of IHCA are increased when frailty is present.