Perioperative Prehabilitation on Markers of Fitness and Frailty in Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery

Plain-language summary

A growing body of evidence suggests that patients who receive good perioperative care (i.e. care prior to surgery, during surgery, and after surgery) tend to have fewer complications, quicker recovery times, and shorter hospital stays. A key component of good perioperative care is recognizing individuals who have diminished physiological reserves (i.e. those who are vulnerable or frail). The stress of an invasive procedure can exhaust the diminished reserves of patients who are frail, which can in turn lead to perioperative complications, mortality and an increase burden to the healthcare system. Early interventions in patients with diminished reserves can be applied to reduce the risk of complications and poor outcomes. There are emerging studies that show promising benefits of perioperative interventions, such as prehabilitation, though with some mixed findings. Exercise has been shown to reverse or modify the molecular driving factors of frailty, which involve dysregulation of cytokine and endocrine pathways. Physical inactivity and prolonged sedentary behaviors are also emerging concerns in frailty because of the implicated deleterious health effects. Sedentary behaviors are associated with prevalence and severity of frailty. Among pre-frail and frail inactive adults, sedentary time is associated with higher mortality. Increasing physical activity is recommended as the most feasible approach to prevent and treat frailty. The aim of this study is to determine if a prehabilitation intervention that combines neuromuscular strength training and intervention to reduce sedentary behavior reduces complications, length of stay, and patient recovery, thereby also reducing the burden on the healthcare system.

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