Relationship between Frailty and HRQOL in patients with CKD and HF
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Investigation into the Relationship between Frailty and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with both Chronic Kidney Disease and Heart Failure
IRAS ID
294629
Contact name
Debasish Banerjee
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University Hospitals Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 30 days
Research summary
Both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and heart failure (HF) are lifelong, progressive conditions that affect millions of people worldwide.
The term ‘frailty’ describes cumulative deficits in multiple medical and physical domains which lead to a state of increased vulnerability to stressors and poor clinical outcomes in patients. Both CKD and HF patients suffer frailty more frequently than the general population.
Frail patients with HF and CKD have worse treatment outcomes compared to non-frail patients, especially in terms of hospitalisation and mortality. Importantly, frailty has the potential to adversely impact patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQOL) due to multiple factors including increased fatigue and poor cognitive function. HRQOL is a widely used outcome measure in patients with both CKD and HF due to the complexity of their management and difficulty quantifying the impact of treatment decisions on patients’ lives.
To our knowledge, no study has yet investigated the relationship between frailty and HRQOL in patients with both CKD and HF. This study will use validated frailty and HRQOL questionnaires to identify and describe the relationship between frailty and health-related quality of life in patients with CKD and heart failure. The Modified Frailty Phenotype (MFP) will be used to assess frailty and the 36-item Short Form Medical Outcomes Study Survey (SF-36) will be used to assess HRQOL. It is expected that HRQOL will be adversely affected by increasing frailty. However, in addition to identifying and describing frailty and HRQOL, this study aims to highlight the nuances of the relationship between frailty and HRQOL in order to inform treatment decisions and improve outcomes for these complex patients. All patients attending the joint HF-CKD clinic at St George’s Hospital will be invited to this study. Data will be collected by consultant patients’ medical notes and in one telephone interview. No follow up is required.REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0087
Date of REC Opinion
17 May 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion