ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN FRAILTY AND SEX AND FRAILTY AND RACE IN HOSPITALIZED CHRONIC HEART FAILURE PATIENTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY By

SUSAN KAY RANSOM COLLINS: Associations between Frailty and Sex, and Frailty and Race in Hospitalized Chronic Heart Failure Patients: An Exploratory Study (Under the direction of Mary H. Palmer) Using a descriptive correlational design, a secondary analysis was conducted to explore frailty in hospitalized heart failure (HF) patients. This study examined differences in a) frailty and sex, b) frailty and race, and c) relationships between frailty and comorbidity, depression, disability, health status, and urinary incontinence. Frailty was determined by the presence of at least three of the five following criteria: BMI <18.5 kg/m2 or >30.0 kg/m2; albumin <3.8 g/dl; hemoglobin <13.5 g/dl for men or <12.5 g/dl for women, and NYHA class III or IV HF and/or ejection fraction <40%. The sample consisted of 154 HF patients 50-94 years old who were admitted to the Heart Failure Center of a large teaching hospital. Conclusion: Significant differences in prevalence and frequency of frailty characteristics by sex but not by race suggest that males and females develop frailty by different pathways. Anemia was found to be an important indicator of frailty in women and could be a significant factor in the ability of females to respond to physical therapy. Further study is needed to determine whether similar indicators can be found for males or by race.