A new study from physicians at Mayo Clinic published recently in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation is among the first to show a definitive connection between frailty and survival after a lung transplant procedure.

According to the report, 46% of the patients studied were considered to be frail based on an assessment of 14 activities of daily living, such as difficulty climbing stairs, dependency on oxygen or noninvasive ventilation for normal breathing and difficulty with housekeeping chores.

Researchers found that the one-year survival rate for frail patients was 71.7%, compared to 92.9% for patients who were not frail. At three years, the survival rate for frail patients was 41.3%, compared to 66.1% for patients who were not frail.