Early Frailty Biomarkers: Patterns of Activity and Energy Expenditure

NIH RePORTER · NIH · K23 · $156,507 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): By 2050, the American population will consist of 88.5 million older adults with a rising prevalence of frailty. Frailty identifies those with diminished physiologic reserve and is increasingly being used to recognize individuals at high risk of rehospitalization, surgical mortality, and health care resource utilization. As a geriatrician with advanced training in Epidemiology, I struggle daily to care for complex, frail patients and recognize the need for accurate tools to quantify frailty risk, trend progression, and to, importantly, guide interventions. Low self-reported physical activity participation is part of the clinical frailty syndrome, yet self- report fails to adequately identify those exhibiting this critrion in their daily lives due to inherent biases. Relying on self-report alone risks under-identifying high-risk individuals and limiting our ability to address this potentially modifiable component. Very little is known about how patterns of activity and sedentary behavior measured by objective monitoring are related to frailty-associated outcomes and how these measures can be applied clinically to predict frailty progression and to guide individualized treatment. My immediate goal and the objective of this proposal is to study how measures of (in)activity relate to frailty and aging outcomes and how they can be used to inform a frailty intervention. I hypothesize that unique, identifiable patterns of (in)activity as measured by activity monitors will predict those who go on to experience a decline in their frailty and aging measures and can be used to tailor treatment recommendations. To test these hypotheses, the following aims are proposed: Aim 1) Characterize activity and sedentary behavior among non-frail, pre-frail, and frail subgroups using activity monitors and relate these measures to 5-year frailty and aging outcomes; Aim 2) In my independent, longitudinal frailty study, relate activity, sedentary behavior, sit-to-stand transitions and cadence to change in frailty components and aging outcomes at 1-year; and Aim 3) Design and pilot test a frailty intervention tool that addresses activity barriers among frail adults and tailors activity targets for frail individuals using identified accelerometry deficits. will relate activity monitor output from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project data (2010-2011, 2015-2016) to frailty and aging outcomes at 5 years. I will then translate these findings in my established clinical cohort (Successful Aging and Frailty Evaluation clinic) of predominantly pre-frail and frail adults using activity monitoring and 1-year outcomes. Finally, I will use the findings from these studies in combination with patient and professional stakeholder input to design a sustainable intervention appropriate for frail elders. These proposed studies will identify modifiable activity and sedentary behaviors that can be measured using activity monitoring to det...

Key facts

NIH application ID
9938361
Project number
5K23AG049106-05
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Principal Investigator
Megan J Huisingh-Scheetz
Activity code
K23
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$156,507
Award type
5
Project period
2016-06-01 → 2022-08-31