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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the preferred vascular access for maintenance hemodialysis due to its superior outcomes. However, recent evidence suggests that AVF may not always be optimal, particularly in frail patients. Frailty may compromise AVF durability through mechanisms involving chronic systemic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and reduced vascular elasticity. Although several studies have explored the impact of frailty on vascular access, evidence focusing on AVF outcomes remains limited. This review compares AVF outcomes between frail and non-frail patients and highlights the importance of frailty assessment in vascular access planning.
This meta analysis was performed following PRISMA guidelines. Research articles were retrieved from PubMed, Scopus, Europe PMC, and Cochrane using comprehensive searching strategies. Eligible criteria are cohort studies comparing outcomes of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) among hemodialysis patients between frail and non-frail groups. The primary outcome was AVF maturation, while the secondary outcomes included patency and mortality during the follow-up period. Risk of bias was assessed using the ROBINS-I tool.
Six studies including 2.586 patients met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of frailty ranged from 10% to 53% depending on the measurement tool used, which included the PRISMA-7, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), FRAIL scale, Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS), Katz Activities of Daily Living (ADL) index, and Claims-Based Frailty Indicator (CFI). Despite frailty definition heterogeneity, frailty was consistently associated with adverse AVF outcomes. Frailty was strongly associated with a higher risk of AVF non-maturation (OR = 8.48, 95% CI [1.83–39.35], p = 0.006; I² = 0%). Moreover, frail patients had a lower likelihood of achieving functional patency (OR = 0.42, 95% CI [0.21–0.86], p = 0.02; I² = 0%) and a higher risk of mortality (RR = 2.51, 95% CI [1.85–3.40], p < 0.00001; I² = 0%), highlighting the adverse prognostic impact of frailty in this population.
Frailty was consistently associated with adverse arteriovenous fistula (AVF) outcomes, including lower rates of AVF maturation, reduced patency, and higher risks of mortality. These findings highlight the importance of a comprehensive preoperative evaluation before AVF creation in elderly patients, incorporating frailty assessment as a key determinant of vascular access outcomes.
