Do we really know the prevalence of frailty in patients undergoing hemodialysis?

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Frailty is a prevalent condition among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes.1,2 Its reported prevalence in this population varies substantially across studies, primarily due to differences in disease stage, kidney replacement modality, sociodemographic characteristics, and diagnostic criteria.1,2 A scoping review identified 40 different frailty metrics applied to patients across all stages of CKD, with reported frailty prevalence ranging from approximately 5% to 80%.1 Among these metrics, the Fried frailty phenotype is the most commonly used in the CKD population.1,2 Notably, even among studies using the Fried frailty phenotype, substantial variability in frailty prevalence has been reported, potentially due to differences in cutoff values and in the tools used to assess its components.1 However, the extent to which frailty prevalence varies within a single frailty tool, specifically the Fried frailty phenotype, when different cutoffs and assessment methods are applied has not been well established in patients with CKD undergoing hemodialysis. Therefore, this study aimed to quantify the variation in frailty prevalence assessed by the Fred frailty phenotype when different cutoffs and assessment tools are used in patients undergoing hemodialysis.