SHBC1565

N.ROSLAN¹, T.X.L.LEE¹, C.S.TAN¹, N.A.MALIK¹

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital¹

Frailty is defined by fluctuating health status, and risk of acute complications that may disrupt recovery and affect rehabilitation. Frailty, disability and comorbidities are intertwined and may aggravate each other. Low physical activity and poor nutrition have been shown to be associated with physical frailty. Conversely, studies reported physical and nutritional interventions were effective in reversing frailty in elderly. Hence, a 12-week group-based frailty service comprising of strengthening and nutritional intervention was developed.

Our objective is to evaluate the demographics, comorbidities and physical disability of patients recruited under the pilot frailty service.

48 patients attended the frailty service from June 2018–January 2021. Their data were recorded from clinical notes, which included baseline demographics, CFS, comorbidities, level of assistance and service uptake.

Patients had a mean age of 80 years old. 66.7% were scored as CFS 4-5, 20.9% were CFS 3 and 12.5% CFS 6. Patients had diagnoses of cognitive impairment/dementia (47.9%), ischemic heart disease (43.8%), old stroke (22.9%), diabetes (37.5%) and falls history (33.3%). 19% were independent with mobility, 25% required supervision, 27% minimal assistance and 29% moderate assistance. 47.9% of patients attended 8-12 sessions, 25% attended 4-7 sessions and 27.2% fewer than 4 sessions.

Patients had a wide range of comorbidities of cognitive and physical capabilities, which may limit their rehabilitation potential. Other challenges included drop-outs due to readmission, lack of appropriate discharge destination and post-service functional decline. Our team intends to further evaluate the effectiveness of the service and expand to frail patients in other medical disciplines.