Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019;23(9):788-795.
doi: 10.1007/s12603-019-1251-5.

Allostatic Load as a Biological Substrate to Intrinsic Capacity: A Secondary Analysis of CRELES

L M Gutiérrez-Robledo  1 , R E García-Chanes, M U Pérez-Zepeda
Affiliations

Allostatic Load as a Biological Substrate to Intrinsic Capacity: A Secondary Analysis of CRELES

L M Gutiérrez-Robledo et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2019.

Abstract

Objectives: Intrinsic capacity (IC) is one of the latest views of positive aging. In its current status lacks a biological substrate amenable to be intervened. The aim of this study was to determine the association of allostatic load (AL) with IC.

Design: We present a cross-sectional analysis of the Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study.

Setting: This report is from a representative sample of Costa Rican older adults; one of the countries that integrate the Central America region.

Participants: 2,827, 60-year or older community-dwelling individuals.

Methods: An IC index was gathered and validated, including different domains: cognitive, psychological, sensory, vitality and locomotion. AL was integrated with: blood pressure, abdominal obesity, body mass index, HDL-cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin, DHEAS, cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. AL was grouped in three categories according to the number of abnormal biomarkers (0-1, 2-3 and ≥4). Chronic diseases, socioeconomic level, sex and age were the adjusting variables. Ordinal logistic regression models were estimated in order to test the strength of the association.

Results: From a total sample of 1,888 individuals, 51% (n=962) were women, 36.4% were in the 60-69 age category. The mean score of the IC index was of 6.6 (±2.2). Odds ratio (OR) of the adjusted models were significant for the group of those with 2-3 abnormal biomarkers of AL (OR 0.67, p=0.007) and also for those with ≥4 (OR 0.56, p=0.002), when compared to the reference group of AL (0-1 abnormal biomarkers).

Conclusions and implications: AL showed an incremental association with IC, even when adjusted for factors such as socioeconomic status and chronic diseases. Targeting therapeutically AL could potentially improve IC in older adults and therefore decreasing the progression to disability or to overt dependency.

Keywords: Intrinsic capacity; aging; allostasis; healthy aging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors declare no conflict of interest

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predicted probabilities with 95% confidence intervals of low or high intrinsic capacity according to different variables: a) sex; b) age groups; c) categories of allostatic load; d) health conditions; e) socioeconomic level
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Beard JR, Officer AM, Cassels AK. The World Report on Ageing and Health. Gerontologist. 2016;56(Suppl2):S163–166. 10.1093/geront/gnw037 PubMed PMID: 26994257. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Beard JR, Officer A, de Carvalho IA, et al. The World report on ageing and health: a policy framework for healthy ageing. Lancet. 2016;387(10033):2145–2154. 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00516-4 PubMed PMID: 26520231. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lopez-Otin C, Blasco MA, Partridge L, et al. The hallmarks of aging. Cell. 2013;153(6):1194–1217. 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039 PubMed PMID: 23746838, PMCID 3836174. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cesari M, Perez-Zepeda MU, Marzetti E. Frailty and Multimorbidity: Different Ways of Thinking About Geriatrics. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2017;18(4):361–364. 10.1016/j.jamda.2016.12.086 PubMed PMID: 28279606. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Verbrugge LM, Jette AM. The disablement process. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(1):1–14. 10.1016/0277-9536(94)90294-1 PubMed PMID: 8146699. - DOI - PubMed

Uncited references

    1. Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res. 1982;17(1):37–49. 10.1016/0022-3956(82)90033-4 PubMed PMID: 7183759. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms