Carolyn D Seib, Sherry M Wren
JAMA Surg . 2024 Apr 10. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2024.0629. Online ahead of print.
To date, surgeons have yet to operationalize a decade of research showing that frailty correlates with worse surgical outcomes. Despite the development of many scoring systems, there is no universally accepted and easy-to-calculate point-of-care assessment tool to accurately identify patients with frailty who are at risk for poor outcomes, nor are there proven programs to improve the fitness of the patients to prevent complications. Sarcopenia, progressive and generalized loss of muscle mass and function, is a risk factor for adverse outcomes, functional decline, and frailty in aging populations, but its assessment and management have faced similar challenges for integration into routine clinical practice.