Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in Cardiovascular Disease

Frailty and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are both highly prevalent in older adults. Cardiovascular disease has been identified as the most frequent cause of death, while frailty has been identified as one of geriatric giants characterized by decreased physiological reserves and increased vulnerability. However, the exact pathobiological links between the two conditions have not been fully elucidated. Consequently, we observe a relevant difficulty not only in accurately defining cardiovascular risk in vulnerable elderly patients (and the other way around), but also a lack of consensus regarding CVD management in the very old. Nowadays, considering the enormous technical innovation, many elderly patients, if appropriately selected, could be eligible even for the most complex treatments, including invasive cardiological procedures. Identification of frail patients at risk of negative outcomes can allow the customization of therapeutic interventions in elderly patients with CVD, allowing the elderly who can benefit from them to undergo even invasive procedures and avoiding futile or dangerous treatments for the most vulnerable patients. A large number of tools and definitions for assessing frailty have been proposed; different scales and assessment tools can be useful for different purposes, but at present there is no clear indication for their use in CVD. In this chapter, we will describe the main geriatric approach to ascertain frailty, the assessment tools used in patients with cardiovascular diseases, and propose an operational strategy to evaluate frailty and identify patients eligible for pharmacologic or surgical interventions.