Frailty in severe COVID-19 survivors after ICU admission. A prospective and multicenter study in Mexico

Objective

To analyze the presence of frailty in survivors of severe COVID-19 admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and followed six months after discharge.

Design

An observational, prospective and multicenter, nation-wide study.

Setting

Eight adult ICU across eight academic acute care hospitals in Mexico.

Patients

All consecutive adult COVID-19 patients admitted in the ICU with acute respiratory failure between March 8, 2020 to February 28, 2021 were included. Frailty was defined according to the FRAIL scale, and was obtained at ICU admission and 6-month after hospital discharge.

Interventions

None.

Main variables of interest

The primary endpoint was the frailty status 6-months after discharge. A regression model was used to evaluate the predictors during ICU stay associated with frailty.

Results

196 ICU survivors were evaluated for basal frailty at ICU admission and were included in this analysis. After 6-months from discharge, 164 patients were evaluated for frailty: 40 patients (20.4%) were classified as non-frail, 67 patients (34.2%) as pre-frail and 57 patients (29.1%) as frail. After adjustment, the need of invasive mechanical ventilation was the only factor independently associated with frailty at 6 month follow-up (Odds Ratio [OR] 3.70, 95% confidence interval 1.40–9.81, P = .008).

Conclusions

Deterioration of frailty was reported frequently among ICU survivors with severe COVID-19 at 6-months. The need of invasive mechanical ventilation in ICU survivors was the only predictor independently associated with frailty.