Physical frailty is related to oxidative stress through thiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters

AimTo evaluate the relationship between frailty, and thiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters, and ischemia-modified albumin levels.FindingsNative thiol, total thiol levels, and disulfide-thiol ratios were associated with physical frailty.MessageThiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters can be used to identify physical frailty. Newly developed oxidative stress parameters are required to determine frailty, as indicated by both phenotype and cumulative models. AimTo evaluate relationship between frailty and oxidative stress through thiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters [Native thiol (NT), total thiol (TT), and disulfide levels (D), disulfide-native thiol (D/NT), disulfide-total thiol (D/TT), native thiol-total thiol (NT/TT) ratios, and ischemia-modified albumin levels (IMA)].Materials and methodsIn total, 139 community-dwelling older adults were included. The frailty status, defined by the FRIED frailty index (FFI) and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and comprehensive geriatric assessment results compared with thiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters and ischemia-modified albumin levels.ResultsNT and TT levels were significantly lower in the frail group (respectively; p = 0.014, p = 0.020). The FFI scores were correlated with the levels of NT, TT, D/NT, D/TT, and NT/TT (respectively; r = - 0.25, r = - 0.24, r = 0.17, r = 0.17, r = - 0.17). The significant correlation could not be retained with the CFS scores. In ROC analysis, the AUC for NT was calculated as 0.639 in diagnosing frailty according to the FFI (95% CI 0.542-0.737), AUC was 0.638 for TT (95% CI 0.540-0.735), and AUC was 0.610 for NT/TT (95% CI 0.511-0.780). The AUC was calculated as 0.610 for both D/NT and D/TT in diagnosing physical frailty (95% CI 0.511-0.708).ConclusionThiol/disulfide homeostasis parameters can be a potential biomarker in diagnosing physical frailty. However, further studies are needed for diagnosing frailty defined with cumulative deficit models.