Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy/IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy.
Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy/National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
Mult Scler. 2021 Oct;27(12):1939-1947. doi: 10.1177/1352458520987541. Epub 2021 Feb 10.
Frailty is an age-related status of increased vulnerability to stressors caused by the accumulation of multiple health deficits. This construct may allow to capture the clinical complexity of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
To investigate the relationship between frailty and the clinical manifestations of MS.
Patients with MS were consecutively enrolled at five tertiary dedicated services. Disability and fatigue were assessed. The phenotypes of MS were also identified. Frailty was measured using a frailty index (FI), computed by cumulatively considering 42 age-related multidimensional health deficits.
Overall, 745 MS patients (mean age = 48.2 years, standard deviation = 11.7 years; women 68%) were considered. The median FI value was 0.12 (interquartile range = 0.05-0.19) and the 99th percentile was 0.40. FI scores were associated with MS disease duration, disability, fatigue, as well as with the number of previous disease-modifying treatments and current symptomatic therapies. A logistic regression analysis model showed that FI score was independently associated with the secondary progressive phenotype.
Frailty is significantly associated with major characteristics of MS. The findings of the present cross-sectional investigation should be explored in future longitudinal studies.
衰弱是一种与年龄相关的状态，由于多种健康缺陷的积累，导致对压力源的易感性增加。这一概念可以用来捕捉多发性硬化症（MS）患者的临床复杂性。
研究衰弱与 MS 临床表现之间的关系。
连续招募了五家三级专科服务机构的 MS 患者。评估了残疾和疲劳情况。还确定了 MS 的表型。使用衰弱指数（FI）来衡量衰弱程度，该指数通过累积考虑 42 种与年龄相关的多维健康缺陷来计算。
共纳入了 745 名 MS 患者（平均年龄 48.2 岁，标准差 11.7 岁；女性占 68%）。中位数 FI 值为 0.12（四分位间距为 0.05-0.19），第 99 个百分位数为 0.40。FI 评分与 MS 疾病持续时间、残疾、疲劳以及既往疾病修正治疗次数和当前对症治疗有关。逻辑回归分析模型显示，FI 评分与继发进展型表型独立相关。
衰弱与 MS 的主要特征显著相关。本横断面研究的结果应在未来的纵向研究中进行探讨。
