Pulmonary function was significantly associated with frailty in community-dwelling older adults over a 5-year period, as indicated from data from more than 1000 individuals.
The pulmonary function test has been proposed as a predictive tool for clinical outcomes in geriatrics, including hospitalization, mortality, and frailty, but data on the relationship between pulmonary function and frailty in community-dwelling adults are limited and inconsistent, write Walter Sepulveda-Loyola, MD, of Universidad de Las Americas, Santiago, Chile, and colleagues.
In an observational study published in Heart and Lung, the researchers reviewed data from adults older than 64 years who were participants in the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging.
The study population included 1188 older adults (mean age, 74 years; 54% women). The prevalence of frailty at baseline ranged from 7% to 26%.
Frailty was defined using the frailty phenotype (FP) and the Frailty Trait Scale 5 (FTS5). Pulmonary function was determined on the basis of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), using spirometry.
Overall, at the 5-year follow-up, FEV1 and FVC were inversely associated with prevalence and incidence of frailty in nonadjusted and adjusted models using FP and FTS5.
In adjusted models, FEV1 and FVC, as well as FEV1 and FVC percent predicted value, were significantly associated with the prevalence of frailty, with odds ratios ranging from 0.53 to 0.99. FEV1 and FVC were significantly associated with increased incidence of frailty, with odds ratios ranging from 0.49 to 0.50 (P < .05 for both).
Pulmonary function also was associated with prevalent and incident frailty, hospitalization, and mortality in regression models, including the whole sample and after respiratory diseases were excluded.
Pulmonary function measures below the cutoff points for FEV1 and FVC were significantly associated with frailty, as well as with hospitalization and mortality. The cutoff points for FEV1 were 1.805 L for men and 1.165 L for women; cutoff points for FVC were 2.385 L for men and 1.585 L for women.
“Pulmonary function should be evaluated not only in frail patients, with the aim of detecting patients with poor prognoses, regardless of their comorbidity, but also in individuals who are not frail but have an increased risk of developing frailty, as well as other adverse events,” the researchers write.
The study findings were limited by lack of data on pulmonary function variables outside of spirometry and by the need for data from populations with different characteristics to assess whether the same cutoff points are predictive of frailty, the researchers note.
The results were strengthened by the large sample size and additional analysis that excluded other respiratory diseases. Future research should consider adding pulmonary function assessment to the frailty model, the authors write.
Given the relationship between pulmonary function and physical capacity, the current study supports more frequent evaluation of pulmonary function in clinical practice for older adults, including those with no pulmonary disease, they conclude.
The study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, financed by the European Regional Development Funds, and the Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red en Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable and the Fundacion Francisco Soria Melguizo. Lead author Sepulveda-Loyola was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.
Heart Lung. Published February 14, 2023. Abstract
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