Objective: To evaluate for the first time the longitudinal relationship between abdominal obesity and the onset of frailty. Methods: Study based on results from two population-based cohorts, the Seniors-ENRICA, with 1801 individuals aged 60, and the Toledo Study for Healthy Ageing (TSHA), with 1289 participants 65 years. Incident frailty was assessed with the Fried criteria. Results: During 3.5 years of follow-up, 125 individuals with incident frailty in Seniors-ENRICA and 162 in TSHA were identified. After adjustment for the main confounders, the pooled odds ratio (pooled OR) for general obesity and risk of frailty was 1.

BackgroundAge-associated decline in testosterone levels represent one of the potential mechanisms involved in the development of frailty. Although this association has been widely reported in older men, very few data are available in women. We studied the association between testosterone and frailty in women and assessed sex differences in this relationship.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data from the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging, a population-based cohort study of Spanish elderly. Frailty was defined according to Fried's approach. Multivariate odds-ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with total (TT) and free testosterone (FT) levels were estimated using polytomous logistic regression.ResultsIn women, there was a U-shaped relationship between FT levels and frailty (p for FT2 = 0.03). In addition, very low levels of FT were observed in women with ≥4 frailty criteria (age-adjusted geometric means = 0.13 versus 0.37 in subjects with <4 components, p = 0.010). The association of FT with frailty appeared confined to obese women (p-value for interaction = 0.05).In men, the risk of frailty levels linearly decreased with testosterone (adjusted OR for frailty = 2.9 (95%CI, 1.6–5.1) and 1.6 (95%CI, 1.0–2.5), for 1 SD decrease in TT and FT, respectively). TT and FT showed association with most of frailty criteria. No interaction was found with BMI.ConclusionThere is a relationship between circulating levels of FT and frailty in older women. This relation seems to be modulated by BMI. The relevance and the nature of the association of FT levels and frailty are sex-specific, suggesting that different biological mechanisms may be involved.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), both clinical and subclinical, has been proposed as one of the mechanisms underlying frailty. However, there is no evidence addressing the relationship between the earliest stage of CVD (endothelial dysfunction) and frailty. The goal of the study was to analyze the association between endothelial dysfunction, evaluated by asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels, and frailty. We used data from the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging, a prospective Spanish cohort study. Biological samples were obtained and ADMA levels were determined using an enzyme immunoassay method. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals of frailty associated with ADMA. Adjustments were made for age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors, and presence of atherosclerotic disease (assessed by ankle–brachial index; ABI). One thousand two hundred eighty-seven community-dwelling elderly were included. One hundred seven (8.3 %) were identified as frail, 542 (42.1 %) as pre-frail, and 638 (49.6 %) as non-frail. ADMAvalues were higher in frail subjects than in non-frail ones. In addition, an interaction between the presence of atherosclerotic disease and ADMA on the odds of frailty (p=0.045) was detected. After adjustments for age, classical cardiovascular risk factors, and ABI, the risk of frailty was associated with increasing levels of ADMA in subjects without atherosclerotic disease [OR for 1 standard deviation increase in ADMA=1.14 (1.01–1.28), p=0.032] but not in those with atherosclerotic disease. In our study, endothelial dysfunction, assessed by ADMA levels, is associated with frailty. These findings provide additional support for a relevant role of vascular system since its earliest stage in frailty.

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The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) proposed six Action Groups. After almost three years of activity, many achievements have been obtained through commitments or collaborative work of the Action Groups. However, they have often worked in silos and, consequently, synergies between Action Groups have been proposed to strengthen the triple win of the EIP on AHA. The paper presents the methodology and current status of the Task Force on EIP on AHA synergies. Synergies are in line with the Action Groups' new Renovated Action Plan (2016-2018) to ensure that their future objectives are coherent and fully connected. The outcomes and impact of synergies are using the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the EIP on AHA (MAFEIP). Eight proposals for synergies have been approved by the Task Force: Five cross-cutting synergies which can be used for all current and future synergies as they consider overarching domains (appropriate polypharmacy, citizen empowerment, teaching and coaching on AHA, deployment of synergies to EU regions, Responsible Research and Innovation), and three cross-cutting synergies focussing on current Action Group activities (falls, frailty, integrated care and chronic respiratory diseases).

Background Frailty and sarcopenia are age-associated syndromes that have been associated with the risk of several adverse events, mainly functional decline and death, that usually coexist. However, the potential role of one of them (sarcopenia) in modulating some of those adverse events associated to the other one (frailty) has not been explored. The aim of this work is to assess the role of sarcopenia within the frailty transitions and mortality in older people. Methods Data from the Toledo Study of Healthy Aging (TSHA) were used. TSHA is a cohort of community-dwelling older adults ≥65. Frailty was assessed according with the Frailty Phenotype (FP) and the Frailty Trait Scale-5 (FTS5) at baseline and at follow-up. Basal sarcopenia status was measured with the standardized Foundation for the National Institutes of Health criteria. Fisher's exact test and logistic regression model were used to determine if sarcopenia modified the transition of frailty states (median follow-up of 2.99 years) and Cox proportional hazard model was used for assessing mortality. Results There were 1538 participants (74.73 ± 5.73; 45.51% men) included. Transitions from robustness to prefrailty and frailty according to FP were more frequent in sarcopenic than in non-sarcopenic participants (32.37% vs. 15.18%, P ≤ 0.001; 5.76% vs. 1.12%; P ≤ 0.001, respectively) and from prefrailty-to-frailty (12.68% vs. 4.27%; P = 0.0026). Improvement from prefrail-to-robust and remaining robust was more frequent in non-sarcopenic participants (52.56% vs. 33.80%, P ≤ 0.001; 80.18% vs 61.15%, P ≤ 0.001, respectively). When classified by FTS5, this was also the case for the transition from non-frail-to-frail (25.91% vs. 4.47%, P ≤ 0.001) and for remaining stable as non-frail (91.25% vs. 70.98%, P ≤ 0.001). Sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of progression from robustness-toprefrailty [odds ratio (OR) 2.34 (95% confidence interval, CI) (1.51, 3.63); P ≤ 0.001], from prefrailty-to-frailty [OR (95% CI) 2.50 (1.08, 5.79); P = 0.033] (FP), and from non-frail-to-frail [OR(95% CI) 4.73 (2.94, 7.62); Pvalue ≤ 0.001]. Sarcopenia does not seem to modify the risk of death associated with a poor frailty status (hazard ratios (HR, 95%) P > 0.05). Conclusions Transitions within frailty status, but not the risk of death associated to frailty, are modulated by the presence of sarcopenia.

Background The association between frailty and adverse outcomes has been clearly defined. Frailty is associated with age, but different frailty evolution patterns might determine the incidence of adverse outcomes at older ages. So far, few observational studies have examined how distinct frailty trajectories could be associated with differences in the risk of adverse events and assessing whether frailty trajectories could define risk of death, hospitalization, worsening, and incident disability better than one‐off assessment. Our hypothesis is that prospective increases in frailty levels are associated with higher risk of adverse events compared with subjects that prospectively decreased frailty levels. Methods Participants' data were taken from the Toledo Study of Healthy Ageing. Frailty was evaluated using the Frailty Trait Scale 5 (FTS5), being 0 the lower (the most robust) and 50 the highest (the frailest) score. FTS5 scores at baseline and follow‐up (median 5.04 years) were used to construct frailty trajectories according to group‐based trajectory modelling (GBTM). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression models were used to explore associations between frailty status and trajectory membership and the adverse outcomes. Deaths were ascertained through the Spanish National Death Index. Disability was evaluated through the Katz Index. Hospitalization was defined as first admission to Toledo Hospital. Results Nine hundred and seventy‐five older adults (mean age 73.14 ± 4.69; 43.38% men) were included. GBTM identified five FTS5 trajectories: worsening from non‐frailty (WNF), improving to non‐frailty (INF), developing frailty (DF), remaining frail (RF), and increasing frailty (IF). Subjects belonging to trajectories of increasing frailty scores or showing consistently higher frailty levels presented with an increased risk of mortality {DF [hazard ratio (HR), 95% confidence interval (CI)] = 2.01 [1.21–3.32]; RF = 1.92 [1.18–3.12]; IF = 2.67 [1.48–4.81]}, incident [DF (HR, 95% CI) = 2.06 (1.11–3.82); RF = 2.29 (1.30–4.03); IF = 3.55 (1.37–9.24)], and worsening disability [DF (HR, 95% CI) = 2.11 (1.19–3.76); RF = 2.14 (1.26–3.64); IF = 2.21 (1.06–4.62)], compared with subjects prospectively showing decreases in frailty levels or maintaining low FTS5 scores. A secondary result was a significant dose–response relationship between baseline FTS5 score and adverse events. Conclusions Belonging to trajectories of prospectively increasing/consistently high frailty scores over time are associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes compared with maintaining low or reducing frailty scores. Our results support the dynamic nature of frailty and the potential benefit of interventions aimed at reducing its levels on relevant and burdensome adverse outcomes.

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