Validation of Two Intrinsic Capacity Scales and Its Relationship with Frailty and Other Outcomes in Mexican Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare a short and a long version of an intrinsic capacity index and test their cross-sectional association with relevant health outcomes in older adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of the baseline data of the FraDySMex study. PARTICIPANTS: 543 community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and older living in 2 municipalities in Mexico City, from which 435 had complete data on the variables of interest. METHODS: The intrinsic capacity indices were obtained using principal components analysis. The performance of the indices was tested respective to frailty, IADL and ADL. RESULTS: The short and long versions of the IC index performed well for assessing functional status. Using biometrical variables like the phase angle, grip strength and gait speed measured by the GAIT rite improved the index performance vis a vis IADL disability (Lawton), but not to the other evaluated outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Both the long and short versions of the intrinsic capacity indices tested were able to classify older adults according to their functional status and were associated with relevant health outcomes.

Frailty and Vulnerability as Predictors of Chemotherapy Toxicity in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study in Peru.

BACKGROUND: Multiple markers are used to assess frailty and vulnerability, conditions associated with the development of chemotherapy toxicity (CTT). However, there is still no consensus on which condition has stronger association with this adverse effect of chemotherapy in the elderly. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between frailty and vulnerability with the development of CTT in oncogeriatric patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Through a retrospective cohort, a secondary database of 496 male oncogeriatric military patients treated at the Geriatrics Service of the Naval Medical Centre of Peru during 2013-2015 was analyzed. MEASUREMENTS: With prior informed consent, the presence of frailty, assessed by Fried Phenotype; and vulnerability, assessed by the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) and G-8, was determined. The follow-up of patients in chemotherapy was performed every 8 weeks, to determine the development of CTT (according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0). In addition, we included sociodemographic characteristics, medical background information and functional assessment variables. The data collected was encoded and imported into STATA v14.0 statistical package for analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed using crude and adjusted Cox regression models. The reported measure was the hazard ratio (HR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS: The average age was 79.2 ± 4.3 years. 129 (26.01%) developed CTT during follow-up. Similarly, 129 older adults (26.01%) were positive for frailty according to Fried phenotype; 101 (20.36%) were positive for vulnerability with VES-13, and 112 (22.58%) with G-8. In the adjusted Cox model, by type of cancer and adverse effects, a statistically significant association was found between the 3 scales evaluated and the development of CTT, with the Fried Phenotype as the scale with the strongest association (HR=2.01; 95%CI: 1.04-4.90). CONCLUSIONS: The frailty and vulnerability in the elderly are conditions associated with the development of CTT. The Fried phenotype was the scale with the most significant association with the outcome studied.

Overweight and obesity as markers for the evaluation of disease risk in older adults.

OBJECTIVES: To explore disease risk through the measurement of BMI scores and waist circumferences in older Mexican adults with favorable health statuses and to determine how this risk is associated with sociodemographic characteristics. METHODS: Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey of 2006, we created a cross-sectional design and selected 878 participants (60 years or older) who had favorable health statuses. The demographic data, health status, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and an estimation of disease risk (arterial hypertension, diabetes type 2, and metabolic syndrome) were obtained through the survey. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity were 42.1%, 29.7%, and 80.9%, respectively. Disease risks, which were classified as least, increased, high, or very high, were 14.7%, 17.5%, 38.7%, and 29.1%, respectively. We observed that younger age has a higher risk for disease and that this decreases as age increases until it becomes minimal. After controlling for some risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, and physical activity, we observed that being female, younger, and married are all factors significantly associated with a high and very high risk for disease. On the other hand, being indigenous, having a low education level, living in a rural setting are all protective factors with a minimum disease risk. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity are high among older Mexican adults. We observed that as age increases, disease risk decreases, which also occurs with some lifestyle factors such as living in a rural setting, being indigenous, having a low education level, and being married.