Frailty and intraoperative hypotension: is the risk significant and modifiable?

Abstract

Patient frailty and intraoperative hypotension are both independent predictors of poor postoperative outcomes. A recent paper by Daum and colleagues demonstrates that these factors work in concert to increase patient risk as frail patients are more likely to experience frequent hypotension during surgery. Frailty and hypotension are appealing as modifiable risk factors amendable to interventions already available in practice, including risk screening and stratification, prehabilitation, and continuous haemodynamic monitoring. Future studies are needed to define interventions that benefit patients most according to their frailty at the time of surgery.