Frailty in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19: The Lessons Learned.

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has unquestionably transformed the field of intensive care medicine. Never have we witnessed millions of patients develop acute respiratory failure in such a short span of time. This led to extensive resource constraints and difficulty in treating patients. However, this also gave rise to several innovations that have spurred the development and progress of intensive care medicine as a specialty. In this chapter, we explore an overview of frailty, the impact of frailty in patients with severe COVID-19 respiratory failure, and the available supports, by summarising the current literature. This chapter also discusses the lessons learnt from each of the sections that can be applied to daily clinical practice. The chapter also proposes insights into future research.