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The predictive capacity of adductor pollicis muscle thickness for physical frailty in older adults

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Key summary points

AbstractSection Aim

To investigate the relationship between adductor pollicis muscle thickness (AMPT) and physical frailty.

AbstractSection Findings

Adductor pollicis muscle thickness was statistically lower in frail patients and the negative predictive values were identified as 89.5% for women and 93.2% for men.

AbstractSection Message

Further prospective cohort studies should investigate the potential value of using APMT to diagnose frailty.

Abstract

Purpose

There is a need for an easily measurable and reliable surrogate marker for physical frailty. This study aims to investigate the predictive capacity of adductor pollicis muscle thickness (AMPT), which can be easily measured externally and minimally influenced by subcutaneous adipose tissue, for physical frailty.

Methods

A total of 589 patients (16.3% physically frail, 54.7% pre-frail, 29% robust) were included. Comprehensive geriatric assessments and anthropometric measurements of the patients were performed. APMT was assessed with a skinfold caliper. Physical frailty was diagnosed using the fried frailty phenotype. The predictive ability of APMT for the diagnosis of frailty was examined.

Results

Of all the participants, 64.3% were women, and the average age was 74 ± 5.9 years. There was no significant difference in waist and hip circumference, or body mass index between the frail and non-frail groups. APMT, handgrip strength, gait speed, and calf circumference were significantly lower in frail patients than in non-frail ones (p < 0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) of APMT for physical frailty was determined to be 0.627 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58–0.66; p < 0.001). The best cut-off value for APMT was ≤ 18.5 mm for all individuals.

Conclusion

Adductor pollicis muscle thickness can be a useful anthropometric marker for evaluating the risk of physical frailty.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study is available for requests and can be obtained from the corresponding author.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geriatric Medicine, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, 06560, Ankara, Turkey

    Esra Cataltepe, Ayse Fadiloglu, Eda Ceker, Nermin Karakurt & Hacer Dogan Varan

Authors
  1. Esra Cataltepe
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  2. Ayse Fadiloglu
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  3. Eda Ceker
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  4. Nermin Karakurt
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  5. Hacer Dogan Varan
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Contributions

E. Cataltepe contributed to the concept and design of the study, acquisition, analysis, and drafting of the manuscript; E. Ceker, A. Fadiloglu, and N. Karakut equally contributed to the acquisition and analysis of data; H.D. Varan contributed to the statistical analysis with data interpretation, auditing, and reviewing the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript, agreed to be fully accountable for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the work, and read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Esra Cataltepe.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study is approved by a university ethics committee (24.04.2023/318) and conducted according to the Declarations of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cataltepe, E., Fadiloglu, A., Ceker, E. et al. The predictive capacity of adductor pollicis muscle thickness for physical frailty in older adults. Eur Geriatr Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-024-00966-3

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