From Recognition to Clinical Practice: Advances and Challenges in the Multidimensional Assessment of Frailty in Heart Failure

The concept of frailty has gained increasing relevance in recent years due to its association with worse clinical outcomes and prognosis across different health conditions. There is broad recognition of its role as a determinant of morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF); however, there is still no consensus regarding an optimal assessment model.^– In addition to the absence of a universally accepted instrument, this scenario reflects a conceptual issue: can frailty in advanced HF be adequately represented by a single-point and predominantly physical assessment?

In this article, we argue that it cannot. Frailty in advanced HF should not be reduced to a physical marker of vulnerability. Rather, it is a multidimensional condition influenced by cognitive, psychosocial, and contextual factors, whose interpretation requires clinical integration and sensitivity from the healthcare team.

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