The impact of interventions on management of frailty in hospitalized frail older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: One of the most challenging issues for the elderly population is the clinical state of frailty. Frailty is defined as a cumulative decline across psychological, physical, and social functioning. Hospitalization is one of the most stressful events for older people who are becoming frail. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of interventions focused on management of frailty in hospitalized frail older adults. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of research was conducted using the Medline, Embase, Cochrane, ProQuest, CINAHL, SCOPUS and Web of Science electronic databases for papers published between 2000 and 2019. Randomized controlled studies were included that were aimed at the management of frailty in hospitalized older adults. The outcomes which were examined included frailty; physical, psychological, and social domains; length of stay in hospital; re-hospitalization; mortality; patient satisfaction; and the need for post discharge placement. RESULTS: After screening 7976 records and 243 full-text articles, seven studies (3 interventions) were included, involving 1009 hospitalized older patients. The quality of these studies was fair to poor and the risk of publication bias in the studies was low. Meta-analysis of the studies showed statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups for the management of frailty in hospitalized older adults (ES = 0.35; 95% CI: 0. 067–0.632; z = 2.43; P < 0.015). However, none of the included studies evaluated social status, only a few of the studies evaluated other secondary outcomes. The analysis also showed that a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment unit intervention was effective in addressing physical and psychological frailty, re-hospitalization, mortality, and patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions for hospitalized frail older adults are effective in management of frailty. Multidimensional interventions conducted by a multidisciplinary specialist team in geriatric settings are likely to be effective in the care of hospitalized frail elderly. Due to the low number of RCTs carried out in a hospital setting and the low quality of existing studies, there is a need for new RCTs to be carried out to generate a protocol appropriate for frail older people. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-020-01935-8.