Frailty Score and Renal Function Impairment in Elderly Patients with Hypertension: A Correlation Study

To explore the correlation between frailty score and renal function impairment of elderly patients with hypertension. A total of 124 patients admitted to the Hefei Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University/Hefei Second People’s Hospital between October 2017 and January 2019 with hypertension complicated with frailty were included. Patients with hypertension were divided into the Observation Group and Control Group (62 patients each). The blood pressure variability rate, renal function, and frailty score were compared between the two groups. Furthermore, the correlation between frailty score and renal function index was analyzed. The variations in the 24-h systolic and 24-h diastolic blood pressure in the Observation Group were significantly higher than those in the Control Group (P < 0.05). Levels of cystatin C, homocysteine, urea nitrogen, creatinine, and uric acid were all higher in the Observation Group than in the Control Group, with the difference being statistically significant (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, no statistical difference was observed between urea nitrogen/creatinine and hypersensitive CRP (P > 0.05). Pearson partial correlation analyses showed that the weakness score was positively correlated with systolic pressure variation percentage, diastolic pressure variation percentage, homocysteine, cystatin C, creatinine, and urea nitrogen (P < 0.05). The scores of various dimensions of weakness obtained via further regression analyses showed that the scores of physical frailties were positively correlated with homocysteine and cystatin C (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that frailty score, percentage of diastolic blood pressure variation, and physical weakness were independent factors affecting cystatin C level (P < 0.05). The rate of blood pressure variability is higher and renal function damage is more common in elderly hypertension patients with frailty. Frailty score, percentage of diastolic pressure variation, and physical weakness were independent risk factors affecting renal function.