Modified frailty index is an effective risk-stratification tool for patients undergoing total shoulder arthroplasty

Frailty, as quantified by the modified frailty index (mFI), has emerged as a promising method to identify patients at high risk of complications after surgery. Several studies have shown that frailty, as opposed to age, is more predictive of adverse surgical outcomes. We hypothesized that a 5-item mFI could be used to identify patients at elevated risk of complications after total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). We identified patients aged 50 years or older who underwent TSA in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Pearson χ2 analysis and linear regression were used to determine the association of the mFI score with 30-day postoperative complications, reoperation, readmission, length of stay (LOS), adverse hospital discharge, and mortality rate. The study included 9861 patients with a mean age of 70 years. As the mFI score increased from 0 to 2 or greater, the following rates increased: postoperative complications from 4.2% to 9.4%, readmission from 1.6% to 4.4%, adverse hospital discharge from 6.3% to 19.6%, and LOS from 1.88 days to 2.43 days (P