Frailty and Infection in Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients

The association between frailty and infection in the transplant population is not well understood. Emerging data suggests that frailty at the time of transplant is associated with increased infection risk in liver and older kidney transplant recipients.

The authors conducted a brief electronic survey of transplant infectious disease (TID) clinicians, to assess clinical practice trends on frailty assessment.

Among survey participants, only 40% reported a routine assessment of frailty in transplant candidates and recipients at their institutions, most commonly in liver transplant patients. The majority of respondents (77%) reported not being routinely involved in making clinical decisions utilizing frailty information. Seventy-one percent reported interest in the study of frailty in relation to infections in the transplant host.

In this survey of TID clinicians, less than half reported a formal frailty assessment for candidates and recipients at their institutions. TID clinicians are mostly not involved in making clinical decisions related to frailty; however, the majority endorsed interest in frailty and infection research. We need future studies to enhance our understanding of the emerging data on the association between frailty and infection risk in the transplant host.