<p>Association between frailty and the cardio-ankle vascular index</p>

Abstract

Purpose Frailty and atherosclerotic diseases are prevalent among the older people and usually present the same pathogenesis and risk factors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the association between frailty and atherosclerosis. Patients and methods The enrolled participants were 171 patients aged 60–96 years in Beijing Tongren Hospital. Data that were collected included sex, age, height, weight, calculated body mass index (BMI), past medical history, comorbidities (including hypertension, coronary heart disease [CHD], and diabetes), ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) as measured using the Barthel index, handgrip strength, 15-feet (4.57 m) walking speed, body composition features determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis, the ankle–brachial index (ABI), and atherosclerosis determined by the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). Patients were divided into frail, pre-frail, and non-frail groups using Fried’s frailty index. ANOVA was used to assess the differences among these groups. Linear correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the CAVI and frailty phenotype. Ordinal multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors affecting frailty and the relationship between frailty and atherosclerosis. Results The population was categorized as 21.3% frail, 38.4% pre-frail, and 40.3% non-frail. Patients in the frail group were older, had lower handgrip strength, slower walking speed, and a lower ABI and a higher proportion of carotid intima-media thickening with values of at least 1 mm compared with those in the pre-frail and non-frail groups. The CAVI score was higher in the frail group than that in the other two groups. There were significant inverse linear correlations between grip strength, walking speed, and the CAVI. CAVI showed an independent risk factor for frailty (OR: 2.013, 95% CI 1.498–2.703, p <0.001). Conclusion Our study shows that arterial stiffness is associated with frailty in older patients, even when adjusting for multiple factors.

Effects of luseogliflozin on arterial properties in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: The multicenter, exploratory LUSCAR study

“…A number of factors influence both a single CAVI value and evaluation of this parameter over time, including age, sex, body mass index, frailty, serum uric acid levels, lipid levels, smoking status, and vascular tone 36‐41 . The relative contribution of these factors to our study findings, and the extent to which they influenced the results of earlier studies, cannot be determined.…”

New Horizons of Arterial Stiffness Developed Using Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI)

“…Im et al 90) observed a positive association of muscle mass deficits with arterial stiffness in middle-aged men. Xue et al 91) showed that CAVI is associated with frailty in older patients. These findings suggest that skeletal muscle loss not only promotes vascular aging, but atherosclerosis may also promote sarcopenia.…”

Chronic Lower Extremity Ischemia and Its Association with the Frailty Syndrome in Patients with Diabetes

“…The outcomes of the study strongly suggested that atherosclerosis was associated with significantly worse walking speed test results achieved by patients. This shows that these patients are more predisposed to poorer mobility, strength and balance, which are features directly associated with criteria for the diagnosis of the frailty syndrome [ 72 ]. Similar conclusions were drawn from the results of the ARIC Study, which assessed the relationship of multiple parameters assessing cardiovascular function with a predisposition to Frailty, including echocardiography, ABI, pulse-wave-velocity, spirometry, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin concentration, body mass index and bioimpedance [ 73 ].…”