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Review
. 2021 Jul 16;23(9):104.
doi: 10.1007/s11912-021-01097-9.

Determination of Biological Age: Geriatric Assessment vs Biological Biomarkers

Lucas W M Diebel  1   2 , Kenneth Rockwood  3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Determination of Biological Age: Geriatric Assessment vs Biological Biomarkers

Lucas W M Diebel et al. Curr Oncol Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Biological age is the concept of using biophysiological measures to more accurately determine an individual's age-related risk of adverse outcomes. Grading of the degree of frailty and measuring biomarkers are distinct methods of measuring biological age. This review compares these strategies for estimating biological age for clinical purposes.

Recent findings: The degree of frailty predicts susceptibility to adverse outcomes independently of chronological age. The utility of this approach has been demonstrated across a range of clinical contexts. Biomarkers from various levels of the biological aging process are improving in accuracy, with the potential to identify aberrant aging trajectories before the onset of clinically manifest frailty. Grading of frailty is a demonstrably, clinically, and research-relevant proxy estimate of biological age. Emerging biomarkers can supplement this approach by identifying accelerated aging before it is clinically apparent. Some biomarkers may even offer a means by which interventions to reduce the rate of aging can be developed.

Keywords: Aging; Biomarkers; Comprehensive geriatric assessment; Epigenetics; Frailty; Frailty index; Oncogeriatrics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Kenneth Rockwood has asserted copyright of the Clinical Frailty Scale through Dalhousie University’s Industry, Liaison, and Innovation Office. Use is free for education, research, and not-for-profit health care. Users agree not to change or commercialize the scale. In addition to academic and hospital appointments, Kenneth Rockwood is Co-founder of Ardea Outcomes, which (as DGI Clinical) in the last 3 years has contracts with pharma and device manufacturers (Hollister, Novartis, Nutricia, Roche, Takeda) on individualized outcome measurement. In 2020, he attended an advisory board meeting with Nutricia on dementia and chaired a Scientific Workshop & Technical Review Panel on frailty for the Singapore National Research Foundation. Otherwise, any personal fees are for invited guest lectures, rounds, and academic symposia, received directly from event organizers, for presentations on frailty. He is the Associate Director of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, which is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and several other charities.

Lucas Diebel declares he has no conflict of interest.

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