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Performance of the Short Physical Performance Battery in Identifying the Frailty Phenotype and Predicting Geriatric Syndromes in Community-Dwelling Elderly

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

The early identification of seniors at high risk of geriatric syndromes is fundamental for targeting interventions to those who most need them. To date, the predictive value of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) for multifactorial clinical conditions has not been clearly established. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether the SPPB could identify frailty and predict geriatric syndromes in community-dwelling older adults. Participants comprised men and women aged 60 years and older who participated in the Health and Well-being and Aging Survey in Colombia 2015 (n=4125, 57.6% women). A structured interview was administered to obtain socio-demographic data which included age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity. The study included the measurement of body mass, grip strength, SPPB, Lawton’s instrumental ADL scale, specific subjective memory complaints (SSMC), frailty phenotype (Fried and FRAIL Scale), and self-reported falls, geriatric syndromes and/or medical conditions. ROC analysis was used to examine the ability of the SPPB test to predict frailty and geriatric syndromes. The cutoff that maximized both sensitivity and specificity for the frailty phenotype was 8 points or below for men and 7 points or below for women. These cutoff values significantly predicted four geriatric syndromes in descending order: mild dementia (♀ ORajus 3.34, and ♂ ORajus 2.79), low grip strength (♀ ORajus 1.98, and ♂ ORajus 2.45), falls (♀ ORajus 1.39, and ♂ ORajus 1.49), and SSMC (♀ ORajus 1.39). In summary, the main finding of the present study was that SPPB score (i.e., ≤ 8 ♀ and ≤ 7 ♀) seems to be a useful measure for identifying the physical frailty phenotype and predicting geriatric syndromes in community-dwelling older adults.

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Acknowledgments

The SABE study is supported by a fund (2013, no. 764) from the Colciencias y Ministerio de Salud y la Protección Social de Colombia.

Funding

Funding: This project was not directly supported by any funding. Robinson Ramírez-Vélez training grant (ID420) as a post-doctoral research fellow with the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA). Mikel Izquierdo was supported by a research grant PI17/01814 of the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (ISCHL FEDER).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Navarrabiomed-Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA)—Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra (CHN), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

    Robinson Ramírez-Vélez, M. López Sáez De Asteasu & M. Izquierdo

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable (CIBERFES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Robinson Ramírez-Vélez, M. López Sáez De Asteasu & M. Izquierdo

  3. Division of Geriatric Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    J. E. Morley

  4. Hospital Universitario San Ignacio—Aging Institute, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    C. A. Cano-Gutierrez

  5. Pública de Navarra (UPNA)—Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra (CHN), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), 31008 Calle Cataluña, s/n, 31006, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

    Robinson Ramírez-Vélez

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  1. Robinson Ramírez-Vélez
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  2. M. López Sáez De Asteasu
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  3. J. E. Morley
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  4. C. A. Cano-Gutierrez
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Correspondence to Robinson Ramírez-Vélez.

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Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards: All participants were provided with written information regarding the study and informed written consent was obtained. The survey was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards at the University of Caldas (ID protocol CBCS-021-14) and the University of Valle (ID protocol 09-014 and 011-015) (both from Colombia). The study protocol for the secondary analysis was approved by the Human Subjects Committee at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia (ID protocol 20/2017-2017/180, FM-CIE-0459-17) in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association, and with Resolution 8430 (1993) of the Ministry of Health of Colombia regarding technical, scientific and administrative standards for conducting research with humans.

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Ramírez-Vélez, R., López Sáez De Asteasu, M., Morley, J.E. et al. Performance of the Short Physical Performance Battery in Identifying the Frailty Phenotype and Predicting Geriatric Syndromes in Community-Dwelling Elderly. J Nutr Health Aging 25, 209–217 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1484-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1484-3

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