Abstract
Little is known whether frailty assessments in mice are capable of distinguishing important characteristics of the frailty syndrome. The goals of this study were to identify the onset and the prevalence of frailty across the lifespan and to determine if a frailty phenotype predicts mortality. Body weight, walking speed, strength, endurance and physical activity were assessed in male C57BL/6 mice every three months starting at 14 months of age. Mice that fell in the bottom 20% for walking speed, strength, endurance and physical activity, and in the top 20% for body weight were considered to have a positive frailty marker. The onset of frailty occurred at 17 months, and represented only 3.5% of the mouse cohort. The percentage of frail mice increased with age until basically every mouse was identified as frail. Frail, pre-frail, and non-frail mice had mean survival ages of 27, 29 and 34 months, respectively. In closing, frail mice lack resilience; in that, multiple tissue/organ systems may deteriorate at an accelerated rate and ultimately lead to early mortality when compared to non-frail mice. Identifying the onset and prevalence of frailty, in addition to predicting mortality, has potential to yield information about several aging processes.
Highlights
Frailty is an age-associated biological syndrome characterized by an increased vulnerability to adverse global health outcomes, a reduced capacity to react to stressors and an overall loss in physiological function [1,2]
Mice were identified to have a positive marker of frailty if the mice performed below the cut-off value for walking speed (38.0 sec), strength (220.3 g), endurance (944.2 sec), and physical activity (1.088 km/day)
Frailty is a clinical syndrome defined as a late-life vulnerability to adverse health outcomes that leads to death
Summary
Frailty is an age-associated biological syndrome characterized by an increased vulnerability to adverse global health outcomes, a reduced capacity to react to stressors and an overall loss in physiological function [1,2]. The frailty index developed by Rockwood and colleagues [5,6] conceptualizes frailty using a more multidimensional approach, and is based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment that measures deficits in physiological, psychological, cognitive and social function. Using these approaches approximately 5-10% of community-dwelling individuals 65 years or older are considered frail with the prevalence of frailty increasing with age [1,7,8], highlighting the importance of frailty research
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