Combined rehabilitation improved discharge frailty status after gastrointestinal surgery
A randomized trial in frail older adults found better short-term frailty classifications with nutritional, exercise and psychological support around surgery.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The combined rehabilitation program improved short-term frailty classifications compared with routine care in older adults having gastrointestinal tumor surgery. More patients receiving the program were classified as pre-frail at discharge. This result applies to the package of nutrition, exercise and psychological care studied together; it does not identify the contribution of each component.
Follow-up extended only a week beyond discharge, and the trial was registered retrospectively. The abstract cannot establish whether improvements persisted or which part of the combined program contributed most.
What researchers found
Pre-frail classification at hospital discharge
Rehabilitation versus routine care, assessed with the Fried Frailty Phenotype; P < 0.001 for the reported discharge frailty comparison.
What the classification means
Frailty was assessed with the Fried Frailty Phenotype. The discharge result describes a shift from the frail category toward the pre-frail category, rather than showing that participants had become free of frailty.
Timing shaped the result
Groups did not differ significantly at admission or on the first day after surgery. The discharge difference therefore reflects a later assessment during recovery, rather than evidence of an immediate postoperative separation between groups.
The original publication
The effect of perioperative multimodal rehabilitation on the frailty state of older people patients with frailty gastrointestinal surgery: a randomized controlled trial.
Yan YL, Yao TQ, Gu CH et al.
BMC Geriatr · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41454251
- Record checked
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