Frailty or sarcopenia: which is a better indicator of mortality risk in older adults?

Background: Despite the different conditions, frailty and sarcopenia overlap regarding their common link: the assessment of walking speed and muscle strength. This study aimed to compare the frailty phenotype to the sarcopenia using different cut-off points for low grip strength to determine which better identifies mortality risk over a 14-year follow-up period.

Methods: 4597 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Dynapenia and sarcopenia identify walking speed decline in women but not in men.

Objective: To determine the best indicator of mobility decline between dynapenia, low skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI), and sarcopenia defined by the EWGSOP2 using different cutoff points for grip strength.

Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted with a follow-up of eight years, involving 2,680 individuals aged 60 and older who participated in the ELSA study with a walking speed greater than 0.8 m/s at baseline.

Is dynapenic abdominal obesity a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality? A competing risk analysis.

Background: Dynapenic abdominal obesity has been shown as a risk factor for all-cause mortality in older adults. However, there is no evidence on the association between this condition and cardiovascular mortality.

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether dynapenic abdominal obesity is associated with cardiovascular mortality in individuals aged 50 and older.

Does the incidence of frailty differ between men and women over time?

Background/objective: The mechanisms, risk factors and influence of sex on the incidence of frailty components are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to analyse sex differences in factors associated with the increase in the number of frailty components.

Methods: A 12-year follow-up analysis was conducted with 1,747 participants aged ≥ 60 of the ELSA Study with no frailty at baseline.

Gender differences in the association between adverse events in childhood or adolescence and the risk of premature mortality.

To examine, by gender, the relationship between adverse events in childhood or adolescence and the increased risk of early mortality (before 80 years). The study sample included 941 participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging who died between 2007 and 2018. Data on socioeconomic status, infectious diseases, and parental stress in childhood or adolescence were collected at baseline (2006).

Is Abdominal Obesity a Risk Factor for the Incidence of Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency in Older Adults? Evidence from the ELSA Study.

Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated an association between abdominal obesity, determined by waist circumference (WC), and vitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency in older adults. However, longitudinal evidence is based only on general obesity determined using body mass index (BMI). We investigated whether abdominal obesity is associated with the incidence of 25(OH)D insufficiency (>30 and ≤50 nmol/L) and deficiency (≤30 nmol/L), and whether vitamin D supplementation modifies these associations.

Are Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency and Insufficiency Risk Factors for the Incidence of Dynapenia?

Epidemiological evidence showing the association between low 25(OH)D and age-related reduction in neuromuscular strength (dynapenia) is a paucity and controversial and, to date, the effect of osteoporosis and vitamin D supplementation on these associations has not been measured. Thus, we analyze whether serum 25(OH)D deficiency and insufficiency are risk factors for the incidence of dynapenia in individuals aged 50 or older and whether osteoporosis or vitamin D supplementation modify these associations. For that, 3205 participants of the ELSA study who were non-dynapenic at baseline were followed for 4 years.

Sex Differences in Vitamin D Status as a Risk Factor for Incidence of Disability in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living: Evidence from the ELSA Cohort Study.

Vitamin D deficiency compromises elements underlying the disability process; however, there is no evidence demonstrating the association between vitamin D deficiency and the incidence of disability in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). We investigated the association between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of incidence of IADL disability separately in men and women. A total of 4768 individuals aged ≥50 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) and without IADL disability according to the Lawton scale were available.

Combination of dynapenia and abdominal obesity affects long-term physical performance trajectories in older adults: sex differences.

Background: There is little epidemiological evidence of sex differences in the association between dynapenic abdominal obesity and the decline in physical performance in older adults.

Objectives: The aims of the present study were to investigate whether the decline in physical performance is worse in individuals with dynapenic abdominal obesity and whether there are sex differences in this association.

Methods: Of 6183 individuals aged ≥60 y from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 2308 participants with missing data were excluded.

Is slowness a better discriminator of disability than frailty in older adults?

Background: The trajectory of incident disability that occurs simultaneously with changes in frailty status, as well as how much each frailty component contributes to this process in the different sexes, are unknown. The objective of this study is to analyse the trajectory of the incidence of disability on basic and instrumental activities of daily living (BADL and IADL) as a function of the frailty changes and their components by sex over time.

Methods: Longitudinal analyses of 1522 and 1548 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing study participants without BADL and IADL disability, respectively, and without frailty at baseline.

Dynapenia, abdominal obesity or both: which accelerates the gait speed decline most?

Objective: to investigate whether the combination of dynapenia and abdominal obesity is worse than these two conditions separately regarding gait speed decline over time.

Methods: a longitudinal study was conducted involving 2,294 individuals aged 60 years or older free of mobility limitation at baseline (gait speed >0.8 m/s) who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Accuracy of different handgrip values to identify mobility limitation in older adults.

Background/objective: Mobility limitation is commonly the first sign of impaired physical function and predisposes older adults to disability. Moreover, recent epidemiological studies have classified neuromuscular strength as the best explanator of mobility limitation. However, existing cutoffs have not been adequately analyzed regarding accuracy.