Transplant centers that assess frailty as part of clinical practice have better outcomes

BACKGROUND: Frailty predicts adverse post-kidney transplant (KT) outcomes, yet the impact of frailty assessment on center-level outcomes remains unclear. We sought to test whether transplant centers assessing frailty as part of clinical practice have better pre- and post-KT outcomes in all adult patients (≥18 years) and older patients (≥65 years). METHODS: In a survey of US transplant centers (11/2017–4/2018), 132 (response rate = 65.3%) centers reported their frailty assessment practices (frequency and specific tool) at KT evaluation and admission. Assessment frequency was categorized as never, sometime, and always; type of assessment tool was categorized as none, validated (for post-KT risk prediction), and any other tool. Center characteristics and clinical outcomes for adult patients during 2017–2019 were gleaned from the transplant national registry (Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients). Poisson regression was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of waitlist outcomes (waitlist mortality, transplantation) in candidates and IRRs of post-KT outcomes (all-cause mortality, death-censored graft loss) in recipients by frailty assessment frequency. We also estimated IRRs of waitlist outcomes by type of assessment tool at evaluation. All models were adjusted for case mix and center characteristics. RESULTS: Assessing frailty at evaluation was associated with lower waitlist mortality rate (always IRR = 0.91,95%CI:0.84–0.99; sometimes = 0.89,95%CI:0.83–0.96) and KT rate (always = 0.94,95%CI:0.91–0.97; sometimes = 0.88,95%CI:0.85–0.90); the associations with waitlist mortality rate (always = 0.86,95%CI:0.74–0.99; sometimes = 0.83,95%CI:0.73–0.94) and KT rate (always = 0.82,95%CI:0.77–0.88; sometimes = 0.92,95%CI:0.87–0.98) were stronger in older patients. Furthermore, using validated (IRR = 0.90,95%CI:0.88–0.92) or any other tool (IRR = 0.90,95%CI:0.87–0.93) at evaluation was associated lower KT rate, while only using a validated tool was associated with lower waitlist mortality rate (IRR = 0.89,95%CI:0.83–0.96), especially in older patients (IRR = 0.82,95%CI:0.72–0.93). At admission for KT, always assessing frailty was associated with a lower graft loss rate (IRR = 0.71,95%CI:0.54–0.92) but not with mortality (IRR = 0.93,95%CI:0.76–1.13). CONCLUSIONS: Assessing frailty at evaluation is associated with lower KT rate, while only using a validated frailty assessment tool is associated with better survival, particularly in older candidates. Centers always assessing frailty at admission are likely to have better graft survival rates. Transplant centers may utilize validated frailty assessment tools to secure KT access for appropriate candidates and to better allocate health care resources for patients identified as frail, particularly for older patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-02777-2.