Effects of a Modified Hospital Elder Life Program on Frailty in Individuals Undergoing Major Elective Abdominal Surgery

Abstract

Objectives

To test the effects of a modified Hospital Elder Life Program (mHELP) on frailty.

Design

Matched and unmatched analyses of data from a before-and-after study.

Setting

Hospital, inpatient.

Participants

Participants aged 65 years and older ((N = 189) undergoing elective, major abdominal surgery at a medical center in Taiwan.

Intervention

The mHELP included three nursing interventions: early mobilization, oral and nutritional assistance, and orienting communication.

Measurements

Frailty rate and transitions between frailty states from hospital discharge to 3 months after discharge, using Fried's phenotype criteria categorized as: non-frail (0 or 1 criteria present), pre-frail (2 or 3 criteria present), and frail (4 or 5 criteria present).

Results

Among matched pairs, participants who received the mHELP interventions were significantly less likely to be frail at discharge (19.2% vs. 65.4% for controls; adjusted OR = .10, 95% CI = .02 to .39) than their matched controls. Transitions to states of greater frailty during hospitalization were more common for participants in the control group. At 3 months post-discharge, participants who received the mHELP intervention during hospitalization were less likely to be frail than the matched controls (17.3% versus 23.1%; adjusted OR = .73; 95% CI = .21 to 2.56), although this difference did not achieve statistical significance.

Conclusion

The mHELP intervention is effective in reducing frailty by hospital discharge but the benefit is diminished by 3 months post-discharge. Thus, the mHELP provides a useful approach to manage in-hospital frailty for older patients undergoing major abdominal surgery.