23 October 2019

The prevalence of frailty in patients on hemodialysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The prevalence of frailty in patients on hemodialysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Int Urol Nephrol. 2019 Oct 23. doi: 10.1007/s11255-019-02310-2.
  • Analysis of data from the international literature concludes that prevalence frailty influences almost three in ten patients on haemodialysis. There were no significant relationships between frailty in haemodialysis and factors such as country (Europe & USA vs Asia) or duration of haemodialysis.

Abstract

PURPOSE:Coexistence of frailty and hemodialysis is related to higher risk of hospitalization, falls and mortality. Given the potential reversibility of frailty, reaching the epidemiology of frailty in hemodialysis is of great importance. However, estimates of the prevalence of frailty in patients on hemodialysis vary widely. We tried to synthesize the existing body of literature on the prevalence of frailty in patients on hemodialysis.

METHODS:We searched Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane for studies of the prevalence in patients on hemodialysis. The prevalence of frailty was synthesized across eligible studies using a random-effects model. We explored potential origin of heterogeneity in the estimates by meta-regression analysis.

RESULTS:Prevalence range from 6.0 to 82.0% and the pooled prevalence of frailty in patients on dialysis was 34.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 24.5-44.1%; z = 6.87; p = 0.00). The pooled estimates of prevalence for patients aged < 55, 55-65, and ≥ 65 were 56.0% (95% CI 28.9-83.2%; z = 4.04; p = 0.00), 32.3% (95% CI 22.9-41.7%; z = 6.74; p = 0.00), and 20.3% (95% CI 7.9-32.8%; z = 3.2; p = 0.00), respectively. There were no significant relationships between frailty in hemodialysis and factors such as years of publication, sample size (continuous), sample size(> 500 vs ≤ 500), diagnostic method (the Fried Frailty vs other), country (Europe & USA vs Asia) and duration of hemodialysis.

CONCLUSIONS:Frailty influences almost three in ten patients on hemodialysis. Understanding the underlying pathophysiology mechanisms and weakening the impacts of frailty in patients on hemodialysis are called on to action in the future work.