Impact of frailty on do-not-resuscitate orders and healthcare transitions among elderly Koreans with pneumonia

Jung-Yeon Choi,1 Sun-wook Kim,1 Sol-Ji Yoon,2 Min-gu Kang,1 Kwang-il Kim,1 Cheol-Ho Kim1 1Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam 463-707, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital Gangwon-Do 200-722, Republic of Korea Purpose: Pneumonia poses a significant health risk in aging societies. We aimed to elucidate the determinative value of frailty for do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders in pneumonia patients. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) in Korea. Medical records of 431 pneumonia patients, aged 65 years and older, who were admitted between June 2014 and May 2015 were analyzed. Patients were categorized into DNR and no-DNR groups. Results: Among the 65 patients (15.1% of pneumonia patients) who completed DNR documents, 24 patients were survived, and 21 patients decided imminent to death (