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Reported Weight Change in Older Adults and Presence of Frailty

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Abstract

Objective

A 5% change in weight is a significant predictor for frailty and obesity. We ascertained how self-reported weight change over the lifespan impacts rates of frailty in older adults.

Methods

We identified 4,984 subjects ≥60 years with body composition measures from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. An adapted version of Fried’s frailty criteria was used as the primary outcome. Self-reported weight was assessed at time current,1 and 10 years earlier and at age 25. Weight changes between each time point were categorized as ≥ 5%, ≤5% or neutral. Logistic regression assessed the impact of weight change on the outcome of frailty.

Results

Among 4,984 participants, 56.5% were female, mean age was 71.1 years, and mean BMI was 28.2kg/m2. A weight loss of ≥ 5% had a higher association with frailty compared to current weight, age 25 (OR 2.94 [1.72,5.02]), 10 years ago (OR 1.68 [1.05,2.69]), and 1 year ago (OR 1.55 [1.02,2.36]). Weight gain in the last year was associated with increased rate of frailty (1.59 [1.09,2.32]).

Conclusion

There is an association between frailty and reported weight loss over time while only weight gain in the last year has an association with frailty.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

body mass index

NHANES:

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Meaghan A. Kennedy MD, MPH who helped with editing and reviewing the transcript as well as support from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, Burroughs-Wellcome/Dartmouth Big Data in the Life Sciences Training Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Dartmouth Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center, The Dartmouth Center for Health and Aging and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Department of Medicine.

Funding

Funding: Dr. Batsis receives funding from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AG051681. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Batsis has also received honoraria from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Endocrine Society, and Dinse, Knapp, McAndrew LLC, legal firm. Dr. Mackenzie: none. Dr. Cook: none. Alexander Titus’ research reported in this publication was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T32LM012204. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Mr. Petersen’s research reported in this publication was supported by the Burroughs-Wellcome/Dartmouth Big Data in the Life Sciences Training Program. Dr. Crow’s research reported in this publication was supported by The Dartmouth Center for Health and Aging and the Department of Medicine. Dr. Stevens’ research is supported by National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH073553, PI: Bruce, Fellow: Stevens). Support was also provided by the Dartmouth Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U48DP005018 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this journal article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors acknowledge Friends of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth and NCI Cancer Center Support Grant 5P30 CA023108-37 Developmental Funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Rebecca S. Crow, C. J. Stevens, T. A. Mackenzie & J. A. Batsis

  2. Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

    Rebecca S. Crow, T. A. Mackenzie & J. A. Batsis

  3. The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

    C. L. Petersen, T. A. Mackenzie & J. A. Batsis

  4. Quantitative Biomedical Sciences Program, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    C. L. Petersen & A. J. Titus

  5. Department of Kinesiology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    S. B. Cook

  6. Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH, USA

    A. J. Titus

Authors
  1. Rebecca S. Crow
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  2. C. L. Petersen
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  3. S. B. Cook
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  7. J. A. Batsis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca S. Crow.

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Crow, R.S., Petersen, C.L., Cook, S.B. et al. Reported Weight Change in Older Adults and Presence of Frailty. J Frailty Aging 9, 74–81 (2020). https://doi.org/10.14283/jfa.2019.44

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