Abstract:

Today, in parallel with the increase in the elderly population, the rate of surgical procedures in the elderly population is increasing. As many parts of the world experience the demographic trend towards aging, fragility is becoming an increasingly important issue. It is expected that frailty rates will increase in parallel with the increase in the number of elderly people, and the number of fragile patients who apply for surgery will also increase. Frailty is a state of increased vulnerability that results from decreased physiological reserve and function in multiple organ systems. The fragile individual’s ability to withstand stress factors is impaired. Frailty is an important issue in surgery because of its association with adverse health events and poor postoperative outcomes. While the surgical process causes post-operative complications and deterioration in recovery in most elderly patients, this is even more important in frail elderly patients. Therefore, a comprehensive geriatric evaluation with a patient-centered and multidisciplinary approach is recommended in the preoperative period. Another important issue is that vulnerability is reversible when detected at an early stage. For this reason, it is very important for nurses and other health professionals to identify the frail or pre-frail elderly and take precautions for this issue. Many screening tests, evaluations and measurements with proven reliability are used in the detection of frailty. In this review, frailty, risk factors, characteristics, evaluation methods, the effects of frailty in the surgical process and recommendations for the management of frail individuals are included

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