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Instruments to Measure Frailty in Patients with Heart Failure: a Narrative Review.
Cristiana Vitale1,2, Ilaria Spoletini3, Walter Gianni4
1Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of Quality of Life San Raffaele Open, San Raffaele Open University of Rome, Rome, Italy. cristiana.vitale@gmail.com.
Current Heart Failure Reports
|October 3, 2025
Summary
Assessing frailty in heart failure (HF) patients is crucial for predicting outcomes. This review examines current frailty assessment tools to guide clinical decisions and improve patient management in HF.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Geriatrics
- Clinical Medicine
Background:
- Frailty is a prevalent multidimensional syndrome in heart failure (HF) patients.
- It significantly correlates with adverse outcomes like reduced quality of life, disability, hospitalizations, and mortality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically review established frailty assessment instruments used in clinical practice for HF.
- To compare the strengths and limitations of these tools.
- To discuss the prognostic value of frailty assessment in HF.
Main Methods:
- This is a narrative review.
- It synthesizes information on widely used frailty assessment tools in HF.
- It discusses the two main approaches: Fried phenotype and frailty index, and the new Heart Failure Frailty Score (HFFS).
Main Results:
- Multiple tools exist for frailty assessment in HF, varying in complexity and application.
- The Fried phenotype and frailty index represent two primary assessment methodologies.
- A novel Heart Failure Frailty Score (HFFS) has been recently introduced for HF patients.
Conclusions:
- Frailty is a key prognostic factor in heart failure.
- Systematic frailty assessment is essential for guiding therapeutic decisions.
- Optimizing clinical outcomes in vulnerable HF patients necessitates routine frailty evaluation.
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