Background: Frailty recognized as a common clinical syndrome associated wih a high rate of morbidity and mortality.
Aim of the Study: This study aimed at assessing the value of determination of some biomarkers in identification and recruitment of frail elderly. The association between these biomarkers and stages of frailty were also assessed
Subjects and Methods : A total number of 100 elderly subjects (above 65 years old) were included in the work divided into three groups : Group 1 (non-frail) included 34 subjects (19 males and 15 females), their ages ranged from 66.3 to 72.9 with mean 67.6 + 3.3 year; Group 2 (pre-frail) included 26 subjects (1 males and 15 females), their ages ranged from 65.5 to 73.1 with mean age of 69.3 + 3.8 year and Group 3 (frail) included 40 subjects (25 males and 15 females), their ages ranged from 67.9+ to 78.3 with mean age of 73.1+5.2 year.All subjects of this study were subjected to : thorough clinical examination, Anthropometric measures (including mid upper arm circumference, mid calf circumference, body mass index), Timed get-up-and-go test, hand grip strengh test and laboratory investigations (including complete blood picture, serum albumin, serum alanine transferase, INR. Prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time, Cholesterol and C-reactive protein.
Results: In our study; frailty recorded higher prevalence than most of epidemiological studies. Regarding CRP, there was significant increase in CRP level in frail group (27.4 + 8.1 mg/l) compared to both pre-frail (14.3 + 4.5 pg/ml) and non-frail groups (7.5 + 5.5 pg/ml). Regarding cholesterol, there was significant decrease in cholesterol level in frail group (125.7 + 54.9) compared to both pre-frail (168.1 + 17.2) and non-frail (165.3 + 29.7) groups. Regarding TGUGT, it was prolonged in frail group compared to both pre-frail and non-frail groups.
Conclusions: There is high prevalence of frailty among studied elderly population, the causes of which need further studies to unravel. The changes in biomarkers noticed in our frail elderly may suggest its use in diagnosis and follow up of frailty, a suggestion that still in its infancy and needs further more studies to verify.