Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study

Abstract Background and objective Frailty in older adults leads to falls, disability, hospitalization, and death. Identifying frail individuals is a crucial means to delay the onset of adverse results. Chronic inflammation plays a key role in the onset and progression of frailty. Our study aims to e...

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Main Authors: Mengying Zeng, Yuanyuan Li, Yuchen Zhu, Ying Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-06-01
Series:BMC Geriatrics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-06033-1
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author Mengying Zeng
Yuanyuan Li
Yuchen Zhu
Ying Sun
author_facet Mengying Zeng
Yuanyuan Li
Yuchen Zhu
Ying Sun
author_sort Mengying Zeng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background and objective Frailty in older adults leads to falls, disability, hospitalization, and death. Identifying frail individuals is a crucial means to delay the onset of adverse results. Chronic inflammation plays a key role in the onset and progression of frailty. Our study aims to explore the relationship between inflammatory markers and frailty in older adults, thereby contributing to more accurate assessments of frailty. Methods We included 4,097 cases aged ≥ 60 years admitted to the Geriatrics Department of Beijing Friendship Hospital between July 17, 2018 and February 27, 2024, 800 cases were ultimately included. Patients were divided into non-frail, pre-frail, and frail groups based on the Fried frailty phenotype. Logistic regression analyses were performed using “Python’s statsmodels library” to identify risk factors. “The Sklearn library” was used to assess the predictive power of these factors. Results Two hundred five individuals were identified as frail. Independent risk factors for frailty included age, coronary artery disease (CAD), old cerebral infarction (OCI), neutrophil, neutrophil to lymphocyte rate (NLR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), albumin, fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of age, CAD, OCI, neutrophils, NLR, hs-CRP, albumin, FAR, and ESR showed AUCs of 0.851 and 0.841 for logistic regression and random forest models. Conclusion Inflammatory markers such as NLR, hs-CRP, FAR, and ESR, along with age, OCI, and CAD, were key independent risk factors for frailty. Incorporating these factors into predictive models could enhance frailty prediction.
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spelling doaj-art-a542ab0d2bd74dc3a274a0d0ce3adaa72025-08-20T03:10:18ZengBMCBMC Geriatrics1471-23182025-06-0125111110.1186/s12877-025-06033-1Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective studyMengying Zeng0Yuanyuan Li1Yuchen Zhu2Ying Sun3Department of Geriatrics, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityDepartment of Geriatrics, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical UniversitySchool of Information Engineering, China University of GeosciencesDepartment of Geriatrics, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityAbstract Background and objective Frailty in older adults leads to falls, disability, hospitalization, and death. Identifying frail individuals is a crucial means to delay the onset of adverse results. Chronic inflammation plays a key role in the onset and progression of frailty. Our study aims to explore the relationship between inflammatory markers and frailty in older adults, thereby contributing to more accurate assessments of frailty. Methods We included 4,097 cases aged ≥ 60 years admitted to the Geriatrics Department of Beijing Friendship Hospital between July 17, 2018 and February 27, 2024, 800 cases were ultimately included. Patients were divided into non-frail, pre-frail, and frail groups based on the Fried frailty phenotype. Logistic regression analyses were performed using “Python’s statsmodels library” to identify risk factors. “The Sklearn library” was used to assess the predictive power of these factors. Results Two hundred five individuals were identified as frail. Independent risk factors for frailty included age, coronary artery disease (CAD), old cerebral infarction (OCI), neutrophil, neutrophil to lymphocyte rate (NLR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), albumin, fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of age, CAD, OCI, neutrophils, NLR, hs-CRP, albumin, FAR, and ESR showed AUCs of 0.851 and 0.841 for logistic regression and random forest models. Conclusion Inflammatory markers such as NLR, hs-CRP, FAR, and ESR, along with age, OCI, and CAD, were key independent risk factors for frailty. Incorporating these factors into predictive models could enhance frailty prediction.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-06033-1FrailtyInflammatory makersFried frailty phenotypeRisk factors
spellingShingle Mengying Zeng
Yuanyuan Li
Yuchen Zhu
Ying Sun
Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
BMC Geriatrics
Frailty
Inflammatory makers
Fried frailty phenotype
Risk factors
title Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
title_full Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
title_fullStr Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
title_full_unstemmed Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
title_short Inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty: a retrospective study
title_sort inflammatory markers and clinical factors as key independent risk factors for frailty a retrospective study
topic Frailty
Inflammatory makers
Fried frailty phenotype
Risk factors
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-06033-1
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AT yuanyuanli inflammatorymarkersandclinicalfactorsaskeyindependentriskfactorsforfrailtyaretrospectivestudy
AT yuchenzhu inflammatorymarkersandclinicalfactorsaskeyindependentriskfactorsforfrailtyaretrospectivestudy
AT yingsun inflammatorymarkersandclinicalfactorsaskeyindependentriskfactorsforfrailtyaretrospectivestudy