• Nils Daum, Laerson Hoff, Claudia Spies, Anne Pohrt, Annika Bald, Nadine Langer, Jörn Kiselev, Nils Drewniok, Maximilian Markus, Oliver Hunsicker, Rudolf Mörgeli, Björn Weiss, Dario von Wedel, Felix Balzer, and Stefan J Schaller.
• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (CCM/CVK), Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@DaumNils.
• Br J Anaesth. 2025 Jan 24.

BackgroundFrailty is a predictor of morbidity and mortality in older patients. This study aimed to investigate the influence of frailty status on likelihood, rate, duration, and severity of intraoperative hypotension (IOH), which can lead to severe organ dysfunction.MethodsSurgical patients (≥70 yr old) with preoperative frailty assessment were analysed retrospectively. Frailty status was defined as robust, prefrail, or frail based on modified Fried criteria. IOH was defined as mean arterial pressure <65 mm Hg. For likelihood, rate, duration, and severity of IOH, logistic and Poisson regression were used.ResultsWe included 2495 patients. There was no significant difference in likelihood of IOH. An increase of 9% in rate of IOH during surgery for prefrail (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.09 [95% CI 1.03-1.16], P=0.002), and 16% increase for frail patients (IRR 1.16 [1.04-1.29], P=0.007) was observed. During anaesthesia induction, prefrail patients exhibited a 28% increase in IOH (IRR 1.28 [1.12-1.47], P<0.001). Although there were no differences in the severity of IOH if surgery or anaesthesia induction duration was taken into account, frailty status was associated with a 15% longer time-weighted duration of IOH during anaesthesia induction (IRR 1.15 [1.06-1.24], P=0.001). Mediator analysis revealed that frailty status accounted for >90% after considering number of measured blood pressures and surgical duration and >70% after accounting for total propofol dose.ConclusionsPrefrail and frail patients aged ≥70 yr experienced up to 16% more IOH during surgery and 28% more during anaesthesia induction compared with robust patients. Preoperative optimisation (prehabilitation) and modification of intraoperative management (e.g. invasive blood pressure management) have the potential to reduce IOH in prefrail and frail patients.Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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