Frail Patients Gain Equal Quality of Life Benefits after Ventral Hernia Repair

Older patients undergoing elective ventral hernia repair were categorized based on frailty, with severely frail patients showing lower quality of life at baseline. Surprisingly, severely frail patients reported higher quality of life scores at 30 days and 6 months postoperatively compared to non-frail patients. Despite higher rates of surgical site complications, frail patients, when appropriately selected, experienced the greatest increase in quality of life 1 year after surgery, demonstrating similar outcomes to non-frail counterparts.