A Frailty Index Based on Deficit Accumulation Quantifies Mortality Risk in Humans and in Mice

K. Rockwood, J. M. Blodgett, O. Theou, M. H. Sun, H. A. Feridooni, A. Mitnitski, R. A. Rose, J. Godin, E. Gregson, S. E. Howlett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

185 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although many common diseases occur mostly in old age, the impact of ageing itself on disease risk and expression often goes unevaluated. To consider the impact of ageing requires some useful means of measuring variability in health in animals of the same age. In humans, this variability has been quantified by counting age-related health deficits in a frailty index. Here we show the results of extending that approach to mice. Across the life course, many important features of deficit accumulation are present in both species. These include gradual rates of deficit accumulation (slope = 0.029 in humans; 0.036 in mice), a submaximal limit (0.54 in humans; 0.44 in mice), and a strong relationship to mortality (1.05 [1.04-1.05] in humans; 1.15 [1.12-1.18] in mice). Quantifying deficit accumulation in individual mice provides a powerful new tool that can facilitate translation of research on ageing, including in relation to disease.

Original languageEnglish
Article number43068
JournalScientific Reports
Volume7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 21 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP 126018 and MOP 97973 to S.E.H.) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 209888) and the Fountain Innovation Fund of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Foundation to K.R.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Frailty Index Based on Deficit Accumulation Quantifies Mortality Risk in Humans and in Mice'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this