Frailty but not sarcopenia nor malnutrition increases the risk of developing COVID-19 in older community-dwelling adults.
Aging Clin Exp Res
; 34(1): 223-234, 2022 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1482349
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The identification of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) risk factors is requested to implement prevention strategies.AIM:
To explore the associations between the COVID-19 incidence and malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty, identified as potential risk factors in previous cross-sectional studies.METHODS:
Malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty were assessed at the last available follow-up from the Sarcopenia and Physical Impairments with Advancing Age (SarcoPhAge) cohort (i.e., the fifth year that ended in 2019) according to the Mini-Nutritional Assessment short-form, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2), and the Fried criteria, respectively. Information regarding the COVID-19 was gathered by phone calls interviews in April 2021 to measure its self-declared incidence. Adjusted Cox regressions and Kaplan-Meier curves were performed.RESULTS:
The present study included 241 participants [median age 75.6 (73.0-80.6) years, 63.1% women]. Among them, 27 participants (11.2%) developed the non-fatal Covid-19. No significant increased risks of COVID-19 were observed in patients with malnutrition [adjusted HR 1.14 (0.26-5.07)] and sarcopenia [adjusted HR 1.25 (0.35-4.42)]. Nevertheless, the incidence of COVID-19 was significantly higher in frail (44.4%) than in robust participants (8.5%) [Adjusted HR 7.01 (2.69-18.25)], which was confirmed by the Kaplan-Meier curves (p < 0.001). Among the frailty syndrome components, a low physical activity level was the only one significantly associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 [adjusted HR 5.18 (1.37-19.54)].CONCLUSION:
Despite some limitations in the methodology of this study (i.e., limited sample size, COVID-19 incidence self-reported and not assessed systematically using objective measurements) requiring careful consideration, an increased risk to develop COVID-19 was observed in the presence of the frailty syndrome. Further investigations are needed to elaborate on our findings.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Malnutrition
/
Sarcopenia
/
Frailty
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Aging Clin Exp Res
Journal subject:
Geriatrics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S40520-021-01991-z
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