A cross-sectional study on the association between frailty and muscular performances in hospitalized elder patients with coronary artery disease / 中华内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the association between frailty and muscle performances of hospitalized elder adults with coronary artery disease.Methods A total of 122 hospitalized patients aged 65-85 years old with coronary artery disease from Department of Geriatrics and Cardiology,Peking Union Medical College Hospital between December 2017 and March 2018 were enrolled in the study.A comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed to evaluate existing comorbidity and geriatric syndromes of the patients.Frailty was assessed using the Clinical Fraity Scale.The patients were classified as frail and non-frail,according to the scale.Muscle performances were assessed using grip strength,gait speed,etc.Whole body and appendicular skeletal muscle mass was detected with bioelectrical impedance analysis in patients with reduced grip strength or slowed gait speed.Appendicular skeletal muscle index (ASMI) was calculated.Results Among all subjects,28 were with frailty (23.0％) and 94 were without (77.0％).The frail patients were older [(76.7±5.4) years vs.(72.2±5.6)years],had higher Charlson comorbidity index [2.0(1.0,2.75)vs.1.0(0,2.0)],and higher proportion of malnutrition (14.29％ vs.1.06％),urinary incontinence (39.29％ vs.15.96％),using walking-aid (28.57％ vs.6.38％),and more kinds of taken drugs (8.1±3.0 vs.6.6±2.7),than the non-frail patients.Prealbumin levels [(207.8±60.0)mg/L vs.(234.3±45.4)mg/L] were lower,and highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels [(5.89±9.57)mg/L vs.(1.89±2.49)mg/L] were higher in the frail patients than in the non-frail patients (all P＜0.05).Compared with non-frail patients,the frail patients had poorer grip strength [(19.67±7)kg vs.(29.23±8.29)kg] and slower gait speed [(0.54±0.2)m/s vs.(0.91±0.22)m/s](all P＜0.001).Spearman rank correlation analyses showed that grip strength was positively correlated with the appendicular skeletal muscle mass(r =0.811),whole body skeletal muscle mass(r =0.74) and the ASMI (r =0.783),respectively.Conclusions The incidence of frailty among hospitalized older adults with coronary artery disease is high.Poor muscle performances were common in these patients.Assessment of frailty and muscle performances can help to evaluate the overall function of older adults with cardiovascular disease in a comprehensive way.