The SENIORLAB study in the quest for healthy elderly patients

Abstract

Reference intervals (RIs) for laboratory analyses by and large, are provided by analytical platform providers – the provenience and preanalytics of materials for the calculation of intervals often remain arcane particularly relating to the age group of donors. In an observational, prospective cohort study on 1467 healthy uniracial Caucasian residents >60 years of age, 105 frequently used lab tests were done on one blood sample. With a nonrestrictive definition of health, several pathological lab results pointing to occult disease have been found and published from SENIORLAB so far. The RIs found for hemoglobin in women went from 117.9 to 152.4 g/L (80–84 years) and in men from 124.9 to 170.6 g/L (90% confidence interval [CI]). This article lists RIs computed with SENIORLAB data for such frequently ordered analyses as platelet counts, vitamin B12 and folate, ferritin and analytes measured to estimate metabolic performance in glucose turnover. In fact, 64.5% of the cohort showed prediabetic fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and/or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c); total serum folate levels but not red blood cell folate decreased with progressing age. As much as 66% of evaluable study participants had insufficient levels of 25(OH) vitamin D. Published reports from SENIORLAB are referenced in this article.

Derivation of an allostatic load index in the Chilean GERO study cohort reveals the need for specific clinical thresholds in older populations

“…While global population signi cantly ages and new classi cations for young-old (65-74), middleold (75-84), and oldest-old (³85) has been proposed [32,33], clinical thresholds are usually established in young adults aged 20-40 [34,35]. Yet, increased amount of evidence reports that some changes from established reference values are expected in elderly healthy people, such as increased fasting serum glucose and erythrocyte sedimentation rates, or decreased serum creatinine levels [34,36,37],…”

Elementary Laboratory Assays as Biomarkers of Ageing: Support for Treatment of COVID-19?

“…We hope that these and similar approaches, in particular using routine medical laboratory assays, will continue to be improved and possibly used in the clinical setting among disease-free, healthy adults of different CAs. Additional longitudinal and comparative studies will improve our understanding of human ageing trajectories for a better translation of research in the clinic and disease prevention (this paper is an extension of a formerly published report [ 121 ]).…”