Clinical Characteristics and Social Frailty of Super-Elderly Patients With Heart Failure　- The Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure Registry.

BACKGROUND

Social background is important in preventing admission/readmission of heart failure (HF) patients. However, few clinical studies have been conducted to assess the social background of these patients, especially elderly patients.

METHODS AND

RESULTS

The Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure (KICKOFF) Registry is a prospective multicenter community-based cohort of HF patients, established in April 2015. We compared the clinical characteristics and social background of the super-elderly group (≥85 years old) and the non-super-elderly group (<85 years old). This study included 647 patients; 11.8% of the super-elderly patients were living alone, 15.6% were living with only a partner, and of these, only 66.7% had the support of other family members. The super-elderly group had less control over their diet and drug therapies than the non-super-elderly group. Most patients in the super-elderly group were registered for long-term care insurance (77.4%); 73.5% of the super-elderly patients could walk independently before admission, but only 55.5% could walk independently at discharge, whereas 94% of the non-super-elderly patients could walk independently before admission and 89.4% could walk independently at discharge.

CONCLUSIONS

The KICKOFF Registry provides unique detailed social background information of Japanese patients with HF. Super-elderly patients are at serious risk of social frailty; they need the support of other people and their ability to perform activities of daily living decline when hospitalized.