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Difference between “Physical Fitness Age” Based on Physical Function and Chronological Age Is Associated with Obesity, Hyperglycemia, Depressive Symptoms, and Low Serum Albumin

  • Original Research
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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to (1) develop the physical fitness age, which is the biological age based on physical function, (2) evaluate the validity of the physical fitness age for the assessment of sarcopenia, and (3) examine the factors associated with the difference between physical fitness age and chronological age.

Design

Cross-sectional study

Setting and Participants

Community-dwelling older adults and outpatients.

Measurements

A formula for calculating the physical fitness age was created based on the usual walking speed, handgrip strength, one-leg standing time, and chronological age of 4,076 older adults from the pooled data of community-dwelling and outpatients using the principal component analysis. For the validation of the physical fitness age, we also used pooled data from community-dwelling older adults (n = 1929) and outpatients (n = 473). Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 consensus. The association of D-age (the difference between physical and chronological ages) with cardiovascular risk factors, renal function, and cardiac function was examined.

Results

The receiver operating characteristic analysis, with sarcopenia as the outcome, showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of physical fitness age was greater than that of chronological age (AUC 0.87 and 0.77, respectively, p < 0.001). Binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the D-age was significantly associated with sarcopenia after adjustment for covariates (odds ratio 1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.19–1.26; p <0.001). In multivariate linear regression analysis with D-age as the dependent variable, D-age was independently associated with a history of diabetes mellitus (or hemoglobin A1c as a continuous variable), obesity, depression, and low serum albumin level. D-age was also correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate derived from serum cystatin C, brain natriuretic peptide, and ankle-brachial index, reflecting some organ function and arteriosclerosis.

Conclusions

Compared to chronological age, physical fitness age calculated from handgrip strength, one-leg standing time, and usual walking speed was a better scale for sarcopenia. D-age, which could be a simple indicator of physical function, was associated with modifiable factors, such as poor glycemic control, obesity, depressive symptoms, and malnutrition.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all participants who agreed to join in this study. We would also like to thank Drs. S. Watanabe, A. Tachibana, K. Toyoshima, T. Omura, R. Kodera, and K. Oba of Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital for their assistance in data collection.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the translational research of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology and Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital 2018–2019 and the Research Funding for Longevity Sciences (no. 28–30) from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diabetes, Metabolism, and Endocrinology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Kenji Toyoshima, Y. Tamura, Y. Chiba & A. Araki

  2. Research Team for Social Participation and Community Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

    S. Seino, Y. Fujiwara, S. Shinkai & A. Kitamura

  3. Department of Cardiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    J. Ishikawa

  4. Research Team for Human Care, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

    T. Ishizaki

Authors
  1. Kenji Toyoshima
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  2. S. Seino
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  3. Y. Tamura
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  4. J. Ishikawa
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  6. T. Ishizaki
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  7. Y. Fujiwara
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  9. A. Kitamura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenji Toyoshima.

Ethics declarations

This manuscript complies with the current laws regarding ethical standards in Japan, and the study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital (#R15-20).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest associated with this study.

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Toyoshima, K., Seino, S., Tamura, Y. et al. Difference between “Physical Fitness Age” Based on Physical Function and Chronological Age Is Associated with Obesity, Hyperglycemia, Depressive Symptoms, and Low Serum Albumin. J Nutr Health Aging 26, 501–509 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1786-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1786-8

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