Frailty and kidney transplant candidates

Pérez-Sáez, María José; Gutiérrez-Dalmau, Alex; Moreso, Francesc; Rodríguez Mañas, Leocadio; Pascual Santos, Julio

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nefroe.2021.08.003

Frailty and kidney transplant candidates

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Pérez-Sáez MJ, Gutiérrez-Dalmau Á, Moreso F, Rodríguez Mañas L, Pascual J. Frailty and kidney transplant candidates. Nefrologia (Engl Ed). 2021 May-Jun;41(3):237-43. DOI: 10.1016/j.nefroe.2021.08.003

Abstract

Frailty is a concept that has been mainly developed in geriatrics and it came from the need of identifying subjects at risk to develop complications when they faced a stressful event. Frail patients have higher risk of mortality, poor outcomes and disability, and this is independent from their age or comorbidities. Chronic kidney disease patients present with high prevalence of frailty, especially those who are in renal replacement therapy. Frail or pre-frail patients on the kidney transplant waiting list represent 20-30%, and these patients are proven to have poorer results after the transplant, which is a stressful event itself. Tools for frailty assessment, both scales or indexes, may be useful to identify which subjects might be at risk for complications after transplant, and this is necessary to adapt our clinical practice and minimize morbidity. The most used frailty scale in kidney patients is Fried scale, which is based in five phenotypic items. Besides that, knowing frail population allows potential interventions such as prehabilitation while the patient is waiting for the kidney transplant, which the aim of improving their vulnerability prior to transplant and, therefore, optimizing results after transplant. More studies are needed amongst kidney patients to improve and prevent frailty.