Association of phenotypic frailty and hand grip strength with telomere length in SLE.

TitleAssociation of phenotypic frailty and hand grip strength with telomere length in SLE.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2024
AuthorsLieber SB, Lipschultz RA, Syed S, Rajan M, Venkatraman S, Lin M, M Reid C, Lue NF, Mandl LA
JournalLupus Sci Med
Volume11
Issue1
Date Published2024 Mar 22
ISSN2053-8790
KeywordsAged, Female, Frail Elderly, Frailty, Hand Strength, Humans, Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Telomere, Telomere Shortening
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Frailty and objective hand grip strength (one of the components of the frailty phenotype) are both risk factors for worse health outcomes in SLE. Whether telomere length, an established cellular senescence marker, is a biologic correlate of the frailty phenotype and hand grip strength in patients with SLE is not clear. First, we aimed to evaluate differences in telomere length between frail and non-frail women with SLE and then assessed whether frailty or hand grip strength is differentially associated with telomere length after adjusting for relevant confounders.

METHODS: Women ≥18 years of age with validated SLE enrolled at a single medical centre. Fried frailty status (which includes hand grip strength), clinical characteristics and telomere length were assessed cross-sectionally. Differences between frail and non-frail participants were evaluated using Fisher's exact or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The associations between frailty and hand grip strength and telomere length were determined using linear regression.

RESULTS: Of the 150 enrolled participants, 131 had sufficient data for determination of frailty classification; 26% were frail with a median age of 45 years. There was a non-significant trend towards shorter telomere length in frail versus non-frail participants (p=0.07). Hand grip strength was significantly associated with telomere length (beta coefficient 0.02, 95% CI 0.004, 0.04), including after adjustment for age, SLE disease activity and organ damage, and comorbidity (beta coefficient 0.02, 95% CI 0.002, 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS: Decreased hand grip strength, but not frailty, was independently associated with shortened telomere length in a cohort of non-elderly women with SLE. Frailty in this middle-aged cohort may be multifactorial rather than strictly a manifestation of accelerated ageing.

DOI10.1136/lupus-2023-001008
Alternate JournalLupus Sci Med
PubMed ID38519061
PubMed Central IDPMC10961526
Grant ListK24 AG053462 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
KL2 TR002385 / TR / NCATS NIH HHS / United States
UL1 TR002384 / TR / NCATS NIH HHS / United States

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