Frailty is commonly observed in stroke patients and it is associated with adverse outcomes. However, there remains a gap in longitudinal studies investigating the causal relationship between baseline frailty and short-term prognosis in discharged adult stroke patients.

To examine the causal impact of frailty on non-elective readmission and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events, and investigate its associations with cognitive impairment and post-stroke disability.

A multicenter prospective cohort study.

Two tertiary hospitals in Central and Northwest China.

667 adult stroke patients in stroke units were included from January 2022 to June 2022.

Baseline frailty was assessed by the Frailty Scale. Custom-designed questions were utilized to assess non-elective readmission and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events as primary outcomes. Cognitive impairment, assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination Scale (MMSE), and post-stroke disability, measured with the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS), were considered secondary outcomes at a 3-month follow-up. The impact of baseline frailty on non-elective readmission and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events was examined using bivariate and multiple Cox regression analyses. Furthermore, associations between baseline frailty and cognitive impairment, or post-stroke disability, were investigated through generalized linear models.

A total of 5 participants died, 12 had major adverse cardiac and cerebral events, and 57 had non-selective readmission among 667 adult stroke patients. Frailty was an independent risk factor for non-selective readmission (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.71, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.59, 4.62) and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events (HR: 3.77, 95 % CI: 1.07, 13.22) for stroke patients. Baseline frailty was correlated with cognitive impairment (regression coefficient [β]: − 2.68, 95 % CI: − 3.78, − 1.58) adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical factors and follow-up interval. However, the relationship between frailty and cognitive impairment did not reach statistical significance when further adjusting for baseline MMSE (β: − 0.39, 95 % CI: − 1.43, 0.64). Moreover, baseline frailty was associated with post-stroke disability (β: 0.36, 95 % CI: 0.08, 0.65) adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical variables, follow-up interval, and baseline mRS.

The finding highlights the importance of assessing baseline frailty in discharged adult stroke patients, as it is significantly associated with non-elective readmission, major adverse cardiac and cerebral events, and post-stroke disability at 3 months. These results highlight the crucial role of screening and evaluating frailty status in improving short-term prognosis for adult stroke patients. Interventions should be developed to address baseline frailty and mitigate the short-term prognosis of stroke.

Baseline frailty predicts non-elective readmission, major adverse cardiac and cerebral events, and post-stroke disability in adult stroke patients. @haiyanhexyyy