Associations Between Inflammatory Markers And Disability Among Older People

The world’s aging population has led to rapid growth, China has the world’s most disability elderly population, but also the world’s only one disability elderly population more than 10 million of the country. Disability can occur in clinical symptoms of muscle weakness, and it is regarded as the different stage of the development of aging. It has become a hot spot in the research of the elderly.The elderly can avoid disability, which shows that it has important clinical significance to explore the causes and mechanisms of the disability, because of the intervention of the sarcopenia and in the period of mild to moderate fraility. In a number of reasons, the level of inflammatory factors in the body of aging is thought to have a certain relationship with the decline of the body’s function. Studies have shown that inflammation is associated with skeletal muscle and fat metabolism related and inflammatory cytokines can through the effect of muscular tissue metabolism, and reduce the somatic function. However, the exact relationship between inflammatory factor and disability can also need further study.Objective This study intends to analysis the relationship between the levels of inflammatory cytokines and disability in Sichuan area in the community elderly. Through the study of the stratification of the body function of the elderly in the community, it was confirmed that the correlation between the level of inflammation and disability in the elderly.Methods This study used a cross-sectional survey method, through the cluster random sampling, the elderly were selected from urban communities, rural communities, acute ward and rehabilitation ward, to a face-to-face questionnaire survey to collect the activities of the body, way of life, and so by self-report table assessing the disability.At the same time, short physical performance battery(SPPB) was carried out by the investigator, and the grade of the old man was divided. The participants were grouped into disability and healthy groups according to the Assessment of Disability Level of the Elderly. The level of inflammatory markers were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The level of inflammatory markers were compared between the experimental group and control group. We also evaluate the relationship of several inflammatory markers and physical performance in the elderly people with disability.Results After the exclusion of subjects with missing data,we included462 community-dwelling Han people(58.9% women, mean age =71.6±7.2 years).The levels of IL-6、IL-10、MIP-1α、MIP-1β、MCP-3、MCP-1 in patients with disability were significantly higher than those in control group; higher levels of the inflammatory markers were associated with the disability( p = 0.042; p = 0.004;p < 0.000;p = 0.008; p < 0.000; p < 0.000). The level of IL-6, IL-10,MCP-1,MIP-1α,MIP-1β were positively correlated with the level of disability( p = 0.005, p = 0.007, p = 0.05, p = 0.001, p < 0.000).The level of IL-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α were significantly correlated with the physical performance( r =-0.175, r = 0.153, r = 0.119, respectively).Conclusion Inflammation, measured as high levels of IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MCP-1, MCP-3 are significantly associated with disability in older persons. The assessment of inflammatory markers may represent an useful screening test and perhaps as a potential predictors about the occurrence of poor physical performance and disability.