The association between anorexia of aging and physical frailty: Results from the national center for geriatrics and gerontology's study of geriatric syndromes.

OBJECTIVES

The present study examined the association between anorexia of aging and physical frailty among older people.

STUDY DESIGN

An observational, cross-sectional cohort design was used with a sample of 4417 elderly Japanese citizens living in a community setting.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Frailty was operationalized as the following frailty components: slowness, weakness, exhaustion, low level of physical activity, and weight loss. Participants were grouped as non-frail, pre-frail, and frail, and categorized as anorexic or not using questionnaire cutoff scores. Measured covariates were as follows: sociodemographic variables, medical history, life style, body mass index, blood nutrition data, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.

RESULTS

The prevalence of anorexia of aging in each group was as follows: non-frail, 7.9%; pre-frail, 14.8%; frail, 21.2% (P for trend<0.001). After adjusting for all covariates, independent associations were identified between anorexia of aging and slowness (OR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.14-1.75, P=0.002), exhaustion (OR 1.39, 95% CI: 1.11-1.74, P=0.004) and weight loss (OR 1.37, 95% CI: 1.05-1.79, P=0.019), but not weakness or low level of physical activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Anorexia of aging is importantly associated with frailty and the following frailty components: slowness, exhaustion, and weight loss. Future research should prospectively examine frailty's causal connection with anorexia of aging.