Resilience is associated with frailty and older age in hospitalised patients

Background Little is known about resilience in an internal medicine setting. We aimed to assess the relationship between resilience and frailty and other clinical and sociodemographic characteristics in a cohort of prospectively enrolled hospitalised patients. Methods In 2017–2019, we consecutively enrolled patients in our internal medicine wards. We selected all patients who filled in the 25-item Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Mean resilience was evaluated according to baseline demographic (i.e., age, sex, marital and socioeconomic status) and clinical (i.e., Cumulative Illness Rating Scale [CIRS], Edmonton Frail Scale [EFS], Barthel index, Short Blessed test, length of stay [LOS]) data. A multivariable analysis for assessing factors affecting resilience was fitted. Results Overall, 143 patients (median age 69 years, interquartile range 52–79, 74 females) were included. Resilience was significantly lower in frail ( p = 0.010), elderly ( p = 0.021), dependent ( p = 0.032), and more clinically ( p = 0.028) and cognitively compromised patients ( p = 0.028), and in those with a low educational status ( p = 0.032). No relation between resilience and LOS was noticed ( p = 0.597). Frail patients were significantly older ( p < 0.001), had a greater disease burden as measured by CIRS comorbidity ( p < 0.001) and severity indexes ( p < 0.001), were more dependent ( p < 0.001), more cognitively impaired ( p < 0.001), and displayed a lower educational level ( p = 0.011) compared to non-frail patients. At multivariable analysis, frailty ( p = 0.022) and dependency ( p = 0.031; according to the Barthel index) were associated with lower resilience in the age groups 18–64 and ≥ 65 years, respectively. Conclusions Low resilience was associated with frailty and dependency with an age-dependent fashion. Studies assessing the impact of this finding on important health outcomes are needed. Trial registration Clinical Complexity in Internal Medicine Wards. San MAtteo Complexity Study (SMAC); NCT03439410 . Registered 01/11/2017.