ARTICLE: Frailty, Inflammation and Mortality Among Persons Aging With HIV Infection and Injection Drug Use
AUTHORS: Piggott DA, Varadhan R, Mehta SH, Brown TT, Li H, Walston JD, Leng SX, Kirk GD
JOURNAL: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 Dec;70(12):1542-1547. Epub 2015 Sep 18.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Serum markers of inflammation increase with age and have been strongly associated with adverse clinical outcomes among both HIV-infected and uninfected adults. Yet, limited data exist on the predictive and clinical utility of aggregate measures of inflammation. This study sought to evaluate the relationship of a recently validated aggregate inflammatory index with frailty and mortality among aging HIV-infected and uninfected injection drug users.
METHODS: Frailty was assessed among HIV-infected and uninfected participants in the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) cohort study using the five Fried phenotypic criteria: weight loss, exhaustion, low physical activity, decreased grip strength, and slow gait. The aggregate inflammatory index was constructed from serum measures of interleukin-6 and soluble tumor necrosis factor-α receptor-1. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of frailty with inflammation. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate risk for all-cause mortality.
RESULTS: Among 1,326 subjects, the median age was 48 years and 29% were HIV-infected. Adjusting for sociodemographics, comorbidity, and HIV status, frailty was significantly associated with each standard deviation increase in log interleukin-6 (odds ratio 1.33; 95% CI, 1.09-1.61), log tumor necrosis factor-α receptor-1 (odds ratio 1.25; 95% CI, 1.04-1.51) and inflammatory index score (odds ratio 1.39; 95% CI, 1.14-1.68). Adjusting for sociodemographics, comorbidity, HIV status, and frailty, the inflammatory index score was independently associated with increased mortality (HR 1.65; 95% CI, 1.44-1.89).
CONCLUSION: A recently validated, simple, biologically informed inflammatory index is independently associated with frailty and mortality risk among aging HIV-infected and uninfected injection drug users.
For a link to the full article, click here: http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/70/12/1542.long
Link to abstract online: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26386010
