The Relationship Between Rehabilitation and Frailty in Advanced Heart or Lung Disease

Frailty increases morbidity and mortality in patients with advanced heart and lung disease. Emerging evidence shows that postoperative cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation can improve the frailty status of these patients. The aim of this hypothesis-generating study was to test the relationship between prehabilitation and frailty in patients with advanced heart or lung disease referred for heart and lung transplantation.

The study was a retrospective audit of consecutive patients with advanced heart or lung disease referred for transplant assessment between January 2021 and December 2022. Frailty scores were recorded using Fried's frailty phenotype (range, 0-5), and rehabilitation status of patients at the time of frailty assessment was recorded.

Of 286 patients, 124 patients had advanced heart disease (mean age 53 ± 12 y; 82% men) and 162 patients had advanced lung disease (mean age 55 ± 12 y; 43% men). Sixty-nine (24%) patients were robust (score 0), 156 (55%) were prefrail (score, 1-2), and 61 (21%) were frail (score, 3-5). Eighty-two (29%) patients participated in hospital-based rehabilitation, 72 (25%) in home-based rehabilitation, and 132 (46%) in no rehabilitation. Frailty scores were significantly lower in patients participating in hospital-based or home-based rehabilitation compared with patients not participating in rehabilitation (0.8 ± 1.0 versus 0.8 ± 0.9 versus 2.3±1.2, P < 0.0001).

This study shows that patients participating in cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation are less frail compared with patients not participating in rehabilitation. These findings suggest that prehabilitation could be beneficial for patients awaiting heart or lung transplantation.