Age-related deficit accumulation and the diseases of ageing. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rockwood, Kenneth; Howlett, Susan E.
• Is Part Of: Mechanisms of ageing and development. Volume 180(2019)
• Page Start: 107
• Page End: 116
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: Frailty -- Frailty index -- Deficit accumulation -- Deficit index -- Alzheimer disease -- Metabolic syndrome -- Cardiac ageing -- Network -- Resilience; Aging -- Periodicals; Developmental biology -- Periodicals; Aging -- Periodicals; Developmental Biology -- Periodicals; Vieillissement -- Périodiques; Biologie du développement -- Périodiques; Aging; Developmental biology; Periodicals; 612.67
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mad.2019.04.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-6374

Abstract

Highlights: Frailty as deficit accumulation is simple: the more deficits, the frailer. Deficit accumulation is elegant & robust: a frailty index behaves characteristically. Rodent models and humans share frailty index properties, facilitating translation. Frailty index translation can go from bedside to bench and back. The deficit accumulation seen with ageing promotes frailty as a matter of course. Abstract: With ageing, the potency of individual risk factors traditionally associated with common illnesses declines. Instead, it is becoming clear that the impact of a wide range of age-related deficits not traditionally considered as risk factors for these illnesses increases. These age-related deficits chiefly confer risk as a group, not individually. The many effects of age-related changes can be demonstrated epidemiologically, and in preclinical models, using a frailty index to distinguish between the contributions of traditional and non-traditional risk factors. Quantifying the contribution of age-related deficit accumulation in clinical and preclinical samples offers a powerful new tool for understanding mechanisms of age-related disease. It appears that a range of common late-life illnesses might be targeted by drugs aimed at ageing processes.