FRAIL-HEART: Assessment of Frailty in Elderly People with Ischemic Heart Disease being considered for Revascularisation: An Observational study

Project Description

To summarise the study, we will recruit patients aged 80 years or more who attend the cardiology and cardio-thoracic departments of Castle Hill Hospital, Hull and who have been given a diagnosis of coronary artery disease. The patients will be identified in both the out-patient and in-patient setting and will be followed up for a period of 2 years. During this time patients may undergo surgery to improve the blood supply to the heart - the decision to recommend this treatment will be at the discretion of the treating Consultant and will not be influenced by the study team. The assessment of frailty as well as quality of life will be done by asking participants to complete questionnaires and undergo physical performance tests. These assessments will be done at baseline and repeated at short and long-term follow-up.

The study has already had a favourable opinion from the REC committee, and has been approved by the hospital Trust who will act as Sponsor. The study will form the basis of the MD of Dr Qayyum.

We are seeking financial support to cover the costs of the additional blood test investigations that we would like to measure. Specifically, levels of Vitamin D, hsCRP, and NT-proBNP. Vitamin D in particular has been shown in other patient populations to be associated with frailty and we would like to evaluate the prevalence of low levels of Vitamin D in our population as this could potentially be a therapeutic target in future studies.

We are initially planning to evaluate 150 consecutive patients as a pilot study. The aim would then be to seek funding from the NIHR for a much larger multicentre study based on the findings we gain from this initial work.