Renal Ageing-sarcopenia Network: a Combined Genetic, Immunological and Psychological Approach to Dissect Frailty

The cross-sectional, observational cohort study include 1500 subjects (age >65 years) subdivided in 750 cases and 750 controls according to frailty.

Subjects who met the following criteria are included: 1) older than 65; 2) able to walk 500 m without assistance; 3) a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score <18; and 4) no severe health problems (eg, uncontrolled hypertension, recent upper or lower extremity fractures, myocardial infarction within the past 1 year).

According to definition for the 'phenotype' of frailty (cases) is as follows: presence of three or more of the following features:

1. Decreased grip strength
2. Self-reported exhaustion
3. Unintentional weight loss of more than 4.5 kg over the past year
4. Slow walking speed
5. Low physical activity

The investigators select as control subjects with presence of less than 1 criteria . All the control subjects are evaluated by the same protocol than the cases. Subjects will be collected in collaboration with senior housing (RSA) of Milano city, country clubs, social club for elderly, and elderly university. The study will be approved by the Ethics Committee of ASL of Milano city and at individual centers by local ethical committees. All the study participants signed informed consent. At the baseline evaluation, a large amount of data is collected. First, the participants completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires concerning the demographic characteristics, psychosocial adjustment, quality of life, and health condition, in the presence of a trained psychologist in order to clarify any doubts. Second, an expert in physical education and adapted physical activity for older adults administered physical tests. Finally, people with expertise in the eld of ergonomics take anthropometric measurements. Data collection is always carried out in the same order and individually for each participant.