Most studies involving hormone deficiency and aging have focused on the relationship between individual hormones and specific age-associated disease. In a recently released study, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine investigated the possibility that frailty would mostly likely manifest in the presence of deficits in multiple hormones. They studied the relationships of serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), DHEAS, and unbound testosterone with frailty status in aging women.
The study used 494 women aged 70 to 79 years who were enrolled in the Women's Health and Aging Studies I or II. Scientists calculated the odds of frailty for deficiency of each hormone, which they defined as the bottom quartile of hormone level. They found that for each hormone, those with a deficiency were more likely to be frail than those without a deficiency. Compared with women who showed no hormonal deficiencies, those with one deficiency were somewhat more likely to be frail. However, those women with two or three deficiencies had a very high likelihood of being frail. The odds ratio for frailty for these women was 2.79, meaning that women who were deficient in more than one hormone had almost a 3 times greater risk of being frail than women who were not hormonally deficient.
The scientists concluded that the absolute burden of hormonal deficiencies in the bodies of aging women was a stronger predictor of frailty status than the type of hormonal deficiency. They found the relationship to be exponential, and suggestive of generalized endocrine dysfunction in the frailty syndrome. This study may be found in the January 31 edition of Journals of Gerontology Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.
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