Hepatic and gastrointestinal pathology in relation to frailty syndrome in elderly patients: a cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52556/2587-3873.2025.2(104).24Keywords:
hepatic and gastrointestinal pathology, frailtysyndrome, elderlyAbstract
The aging process involves a multitude of physiological age-related changes and the development of geriatric syndromes, including frailty syndrome (FS) - a complex geriatric syndrome characterized by increased vulnerability, commonly found in people over 65 years of age. Research on the various causes of FS demonstrates the multitude of factors involved in the evolution of frailty in the elderly, including liver and gastrointestinal pathology for this population group. A descriptive cross-sectional study included 613 patients admitted to Geriatric wards no. 1 and no. 2 of the Clinical Hospital for Recovery and Chronic Care in Chisinau, during the period 2020–2023. All patients were examined consecutively as they were admitted to the geriatric wards, with the patient’s consent to participate in the study, they were examined through a complex geriatric assessment (CGA), which includes clinical, laboratory exexamination and standardized geriatric assessment (scores). FS was established based on the Fried frailty screening criteria, the respondents were classified into robust, pre-frail and frail. The frail elderly group presented a higher share of hepatic and gastrointestinal pathology - 46.97%, followed by the pre-frail and robust elderly group, and comorbidity presents a particularity of the geriatric population. The most frequent hepato-gastric pathologies attested in the study group were chronic pancreatitis, followed by chronic gastritis and chronic hepatitis, representing a risk factor for the evolution of FS in the elderly.
References
1. NEGARĂ A., ŞORIC G., COŞCIUG E., POPESCU A., POPA A., STOICOVA I. Sindromul de fragilitate la persoanele vârstnice: sinteza literaturii. În: Sănătate Publică, Economie şi Management în Medicină. 2020, nr. 1(83): 31-36.
2. ŞORIC G., POPESCU A., COŞCIUG E., POPA A., NEGARĂ A., BODRUG N. Fragilitatea vârstnicului - aspect multidimensional. În: Sănătate Publică, Economie şi Management în Medicină. 2020; 3(85): 21-25.
3. FRIED L.P., TANGEN C.M., WALSTON J. et al. Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. In: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56(3):146-156 https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146
4. FRIED L.P, FERRUCCI L., DARER J. et al. Untangling the concepts of disability, frailty, and comorbidity: impli cations for improved targeting and care. In: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2004;59(3):255-263. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/59.3.M255
5. FRIED L.P., TANGEN C.M., WALSTON J. et al. Cardiovascular Health Study Collaborative Research Group. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. In: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56(3):146-156. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146
6. ТКАЧЕВА О.Н., РУНИХИНА Н.К., КОТОВСКАЯ Ю.В. и др. Ведение пациентов со старческой астенией в первичном звене здравоохранения. Учебное пособие для врачей - М.: Изд-во РАМН, 2016.
7. NEGARĂ, A., BLAJA-LISNIC, N., MANIUC, O., LUPAȘCUVOLENTIR, F. et al. Compendium de geriatrie, 2014, 360 p.
8. HALTER J.B., OUSLANDER J.G., TINETTI M.E., STUDENSKI S. et al. Hazzard's Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, 7th edition.
9. DUMIC I., NORDIN T., JECMENICA M. et al. Review Article Gastrointestinal Tract Disorders in Older Age. In: Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2019, Article ID 6757524, 19 pages. 10. LOPEZ C., BLASCO M. A. et al. "Thehallmarksofaging" Cell, vol.153, no.6, pp.1194-1217, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6757524
11. BHUTTOAND A., MORLEY J.E., "Theclinical significanceofgas trointestinal changes with aging". Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, vol.11, no. 5, pp. 651-660, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1097/MCO.0b013e32830b5d37
12. WELSH T.J., GORDON A.L., GLADMAN J.R. Comprehensive geriatric assessment-a guide for the nonspecialist. In: Int J Clin Pract. 2014;68(3):290-293. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.12313
13. DRUBBEL I., BLEIJENBERG N. et al. Identifying frailty: do the Frailty Index and Groningen Frailty Indicator cover different clinical perspectives? a cross-sectional study. In: BMC Fam Pract. 2013; 14: 64. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-14-64
14. KENIG J., RICHTER P., ZYCHIEWICZ B., OLSZEWSKA U. Vulnerable Elderly Survey 13 as a screening method for frailty in Polish elderly surgical patient--prospective study. In: Pol Przegl Chir. 2014; 86(3): 126-131. https://doi.org/10.2478/pjs-2014-0024
15. RAMÍREZ-VÉLEZ R., LÓPEZ SÁEZ DE ASTEASU M, MORLEY J.E. et al. Performance of the Short Physical Performance Battery in Identifying the Frailty Phenotype and Predicting Geriatric Syndromes in Community-Dwelling Elderly. In: J Nutr Health Aging. 2021; 25: 209-217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1484-3
16. MORLEY J.E, VELLAS B., VAN KAN G.A. et al. Frailty consensus: a call to action. In: J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2013;14(6):392-397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2013.03.022
17. FRIED L.P, FERRUCCI L., DARER J. et al. Untangling the concepts of disability, frailty and comorbidity: implications for improved targeting and care. In: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2004;59(3):255-263. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/59.3.M255
18. COLLERTON J., MARTIN-RUIZ C., DAVIES K. et al. Frailty and the role of inflammation, immune senescence and cellular ageing in the very old: cross-sectional findings from the Newcastle 85+ study. In: Mech. Ageing Day. 2016;133(6):456-466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mad.2012.05.005
19. BACHMANN M.C., BELLALTA S., BASOALTO R. et al. The Challenge by Multiple Environmental and Biological Factors Induce Inflammation in Aging: Their Role in the Promotion of Chronic Disease. In: Front Immunol, 2020; 11: 570083. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.570083
20. CASTELLANA F., LAMPIGNANO L., BORTONE I. et al. Physical Frailty, Multimorbidity and All-Cause Mortality in an Older Population From Southern Italy: Results From the Salus in Apulia Study. In: J Am Med Dir Assoc, 2021; 22(3): 598-605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.12.026
21. CURTIS E.A., COMISKEY C., DEMPSEY O. Importance and use of correlational research. In: Nurse Res. 2016;23(6):20-25. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.2016.e1382
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



