RESULTS Severity of frailty syndrome significantly correlated with post-surgical mortality rates and with many although not all post-surgical complications .
These relationships emerge in different type of surgical procedures and patients ' features .
BACKGROUND Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by the clinical presentation of identifiable physical alterations and decreased physiological reserve .
The assessment of frailty syndrome has been recently related with post-surgical outcomes and overall mortality in older individuals .
Predictors of Short-Term Postoperative Survival After Elective Colectomy in Colon Cancer Patients ≥80 Years of Age
Background Individuals ≥80 years of age represent an increasing proportion of colon cancer diagnoses . Selecting these patients for elective surgery is challenging because of diminished overall health , functional decline , and limited data to guide decisions . The objective was to identify overall health measures that are predictive of poor survival after elective surgery in these oldest-old colon cancer patients . Methods Medicare beneficiaries ≥80 years who underwent elective colectomy for stage I – III colon cancer from 1992–2005 were identified from the Surveillance , Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data base . Kaplan – Meier survival analysis determined 90-day and 1-year overall survival . Multivariable logistic regression assessed factors associated with short-term postoperative survival . Results Overall survival for the 12,979 oldest-old patients undergoing elective colectomy for colon cancer was 93.4 and 85.7 % , at 90 days and 1 year . Older age , male gender , frailty , increased hospitalizations in prior year , and dementia were most strongly associated with decreased survival . In addition , AJCC stage III ( vs stage I ) disease and widowed ( vs married ) were highly associated with decreased survival at 1 year . Although only 4.4 % of patients were considered frail , this had the strongest association with mortality , with an odds ratio of 8.4 ( 95 % confidence interval , 6.4–11.1 ) . Conclusions Although most oldest-old colon cancer patients do well after elective colectomy , a significant proportion ( 6.6 % ) die by postoperative day 90 and frailty is the strongest predictor . The ability to identify frailty through billing cl aims is intriguing and suggests the potential to prospect ively identify , through the electronic medical record , patients at highest risk of decreased survival
RESULTS Severity of frailty syndrome significantly correlated with post-surgical mortality rates and with many although not all post-surgical complications .
These relationships emerge in different type of surgical procedures and patients ' features .
BACKGROUND Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by the clinical presentation of identifiable physical alterations and decreased physiological reserve .
The assessment of frailty syndrome has been recently related with post-surgical outcomes and overall mortality in older individuals .