Fried Frailty Phenotype Questionnaire scores and postoperative patient-reported outcomes of patients undergoing major abdominal cancer surgery: A secondary analysis

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Fried Frailty Phenotype Questionnaire (FFPQ) scores on patient-reported postoperative outcomes. Methods: This secondary analysis of a prospective observational study included 230 inpatients aged >= 65 years undergoing elective abdominal cancer surgery. The primary outcome was the Quality of Recovery-15 score on postoperative days 2, 4 and 7. The secondary outcomes included disability-free survival, defined as a 12-item World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 score of <16% at 3 months. The associations of the FFPQ scores, ranging from 0 (robust) to 5 (frailty), with the primary and secondary outcomes were assessed using multiple analysis. Results: After confirming the linearity of the FFPQ score for the outcomes, multiple regression analysis adjusted for prominent factors showed that the FFPQ score was a significant factor influencing the decrease in the Quality of Recovery-15 score on postoperative day 2 (beta = -2.67, 95% confidence interval -5.20, -0.15), 4 (beta = -3.54, 95% confidence interval -5.77, -1.30) and 7 (beta = -3.70, 95% confidence interval -5.75, -1.65). The adjusted odds ratio of the FFPQ score for disability-free survival postoperatively was 0.66 (95% confidence interval 0.49-0.90). Conclusions: Patients with higher FFPQ scores before elective major abdominal cancer surgery were likely to have lower postoperative Quality of Recovery-15 scores and poor disability-free survival.