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. 2010 Mar;95(3):1161-8.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2009-1991. Epub 2010 Jan 8.

Thyroid autoantibodies are associated with a reduced prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older women

George C Wang  1 , Monica V Talor, Noel R Rose, Anne R Cappola, Roger B Chiou, Carlos Weiss, Jeremy D Walston, Linda P Fried, Patrizio Caturegli
Affiliations

Thyroid autoantibodies are associated with a reduced prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older women

George C Wang et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

Context: The contribution of autoimmunity to the multisystem dysregulation that characterizes the frailty syndrome in older adults is unknown.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between thyroid antibodies and frailty in older women.

Design, setting, and participants: We conducted a cross-sectional study nested within the Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II. Thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAbs), thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs), and antinuclear antibodies were measured in the baseline sera of 641 community-dwelling older women.

Main outcome measure: Frailty was defined using a validated five-component measure.

Results: The prevalence of prefrailty and frailty was lower in TgAb-positive than negative older women (37.1 vs. 47.8% and 6.7 vs.11.9%, respectively; P = 0.01 and 0.03). The prevalence of prefrailty, but not frailty, was lower in TPOAb-positive than negative women (38.9 vs. 48.0% and 10.1 vs. 11.3%; P = 0.04 and 0.34). After adjustment for covariates including serum thyroid stimulation hormone concentration and thyroid medication usage in multinomial regression models, TgAb-positive older women had lower odds of prefrailty and frailty compared with TgAb-negative women (odds ratio 0.57 and 0.30; 95% confidence interval 0.34-0.98 and 0.10-0.85, respectively). Similarly, TPOAb-positive older women had lower odds of frailty compared with TPOAb-negative women (odds ratio 0.44; 95% confidence interval 0.20-0.96). These trends were not observed with antinuclear antibodies.

Conclusion: Independent of thyroid function status, community-dwelling older women who are seropositive for TgAbs and TPOAbs are less likely to be frail than seronegative women.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of autoantibodies in women of incremental states of frailty in WHAS I and II. Shaded regions in bars indicate percentage of women within the respective frailty-status group who were seropositive for TgAbs (A),TPOAbs (B), and ANAs (C). Study-specific probability weights were used to derive the percentages. P values were determined by the χ2 test.
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