How being frail could impact your transplant success
What do you think of when you hear the term ‘frail’? You probably think of someone who is elderly and at risk of injury.
But it’s a term that is increasingly being applied to people with chronic health conditions, regardless of their age. So you may be in your thirties and forties, but have the frailty you would normally associate with a ninety year old.
To put it bluntly, frailty is associated with increased hospitalisation and an increased risk of death, and its becoming important in patients who suffer from heart failure – especially when it comes to deciding who gets transplants.
Sunita Jha and Phillip Newtown from the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney joined us to discuss the concept and implications of frailty.
Images: Sjoerd Lammers
