Multidisciplinary Prehabilitation to Improve Frailty and Functional Capacity in High-risk Elective Surgical Patients: a Retrospective Pilot Study

Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome in which multiple small physiological deficits accumulate gradually, resulting in a loss of physiological reserve and adaptability, putting a patient that is exposed to stressor at a higher risk of adverse outcomes. Both pre-frailty and frailty are associated with worse outcomes and higher healthcare costs. With the potential "teachable" moment from the long surgical waiting time in Hong Kong, the effect of a prehabilitation program incorporated into clinical care pathway in high-risk frail patients undergoing elective major surgery were evaluated.