Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesResearch article
Frailty and Heart Failure: An Integrated Review of a Bidirectional Relationship
- integrated review
Authors' conclusion
Future research should prioritise prospective validation of HF-specific frailty tools and randomised trials evaluating frailty-targeted interventions in HF populations.
Study context
- Population
- Older adults with heart failure and frailty
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Frailty prevalence
Frailty in patients with chronic heart failure (HF), depending on clinical setting and assessment tool
15-76%
Prevalence in hospitalised patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)
approaching 90%
Further findings
Frailty and incident HF
- Frailty independently predicts incident HF and is associated with progressive deterioration in cardiac structure and function
HF and frailty progression
- HF accelerates frailty progression through systemic inflammation, skeletal muscle hypoperfusion, sarcopenia, neurohormonal activation, malnutrition, and hospital-associated deconditioning
Consequences of frailty
- Frailty contributes to impaired quality of life, reduced self-care capacity, prolonged hospitalisation, poorer tolerance of guideline-directed medical therapy, and higher all-cause mortality risk
Original publication
Frailty and Heart Failure: An Integrated Review of a Bidirectional Relationship. ESC Heart Fail. Published 27 June 2026. doi:10.1093/eschf/xvag178
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it