Frailty and arterial stiffness: the role of oxidative stress and inflammation

Background: There is an association between frailty and arterial stiffness. However, arterial stiffness does not uniformly correlate with the spectrum of frailty states. Both oxidative stress and inflammation contribute to vascular aging. There are no human studies exploring links between arterial stiffness, oxidative stress, inflammaging and frailty.

Methods: An observational longitudinal cohort study will be used to examine the association between arterial stiffness, oxidative stress, and inflammation in 50 older adults (≥ 70 years) with clinical frailty scores (CFS) ≤ 6 over six months. Frailty assessments include hand-grip strength, timed-up and go test, mini-mental state examination, geriatric depression scale and sarcopenia using body composition measurements. Arterial stiffness measurements includes carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and carotid-radial pulse wave velocity using Complior. CAVI device will measure Cardio-ankle vascular index and ankle brachial index. Oxidative stress blood markers nitrotyrosine and 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosin and inflammation markers high-sensitive C-reactive protein and interlukin-6 will be measured at baseline and 6-months.

Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics for continuous data using means and standard deviations for normality distributed variables or medians and inter-quartile ranges for skewed variables will be used. Participants will be categorized into CFS 1–3, and CFS 4–6. Categorical data will use frequencies and comparison between groups. Change in frailty between the groups over 6 months will be compared using paired t-test. Simple linear regression will be done between frailty measures, and exposure variable with significance at p < 0.5.

Conclusion: This study data will inform a larger, multi-centre study exploring further the interplay between frailty, biomarkers, and arterial stiffness parameters.