Identifying and optimizing psychosocial frailty in surgical practice

Abstract

Psychosocial frailty is under-screened for and under-treated in patients undergoing surgery, even though patients with psychosocial frailty are at increased risk for postoperative complications. Numerous approaches exist to identifying psychosocial frailty in the preoperative period, ranging from neighborhood-level indices to patient-level, patient-reported data. Presurgical optimization of psychosocial frailty has returned mixed results, focusing primarily on psychological well-being with limited attention paid to addressing a patient's social risk profile. Mediators and moderators of psychosocial frailty in surgical outcomes must be further elucidated before investigators can appropriately trial psychosocial optimization programs that benefit patients. In recent years, new policies and system-level changes have incentivized screening for psychosocial frailty, and additional reimbursement strategies should be formulated to address frailty in the preoperative period in a feasible, sustainable, and cost-effective manner.