medwireNews: Frailty may be a risk factor for worsening physical function among people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), research suggests.
The study included 124 patients aged an average of 58.0 years, of whom 10% were categorized as frail – based on meeting at least three of the following frailty criteria: BMI of 18.5 kg/m2 or lower; low grip strength; severe fatigue; slow 4-m walking speed; and low physical activity – while 71% were classed as pre-frail, defined as meeting 1–2 frailty criteria.
James Andrews (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) and fellow researchers found that people who were frail had a 0.4-point greater worsening in average HAQ score on average over 2 years than those with no indicators of frailty after adjustment for factors including sex, age, disease duration, and steroid use. Pre-frail participants had an average 0.2-point greater worsening in HAQ score than robust individuals in the adjusted analysis.
“These findings suggest that frailty may be an important and unique risk factor for physical disability in RA and that novel interventions targeting aspects of frailty may have the potential to improve functional outcomes for these patients,” write the researchers in ACR Open Rheumatology.
Noting that only fatigue was significantly associated with change in HAQ score when the components of frailty were analyzed separately, they say that their study “further underscores the clinical relevance of addressing fatigue symptoms in caring for patients with RA.”
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