Frailty and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Scoping Review of Current Evidence

Frailty is increasingly recognized as an important concept in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The aim of this scoping review is to summarize the current literature on frailty in IBD. We will discuss the definition of frailty, frailty assessment methods, the prevalence of frailty, risk factors for frailty and the prognostic value of frailty in IBD. A scoping literature search was performed using the PubMed database. Frailty prevalence varied from 6% to 53.9%, depending on the population and frailty assessment method. Frailty was associated with a range of adverse outcomes, including an increased risk for all-cause hospitalization and readmission, mortality in non-surgical setting, IBD-related hospitalization and readmission. Therefore, frailty assessment should become integrated as part of routine clinical care for older patients with IBD.

Automated summary

This scoping review summarizes the current literature on frailty in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including the definition of frailty, assessment methods, prevalence, risk factors, and prognostic value. The prevalence of frailty ranged from 6% to 53.9%, depending on the population and assessment method. Frailty was associated with adverse outcomes, such as increased risk for hospitalization, readmission, and mortality. Therefore, frailty assessment should be integrated into routine clinical care for older patients with IBD.