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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Oxidative stress is related to frailty, not to age or sex, in a geriatric population

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Age-associated frailty is a geriatric syndrome. Frail individuals are vulnerable and lack capacity to manage external stressors. Frailty is associated with oxidative stress, but it has not been addressed in a large controlled human cohort. We aimed to ascertain whether indicators of oxidative damage to lipids and proteins are biomarkers of frailty, after adjusting for age, sex, and other possible confounders. We measured lipid and protein oxidation in the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging participants (N=742, aged 65–95), classified as frail, prefrail and nonfrail according to the Fried criteria. We found that age- and sex-adjusted levels of MDA and protein carbonylation in plasma proved to be related to frailty, even after including possible independent confounders. In conclusion, circulating oxidative damage biomarkers, such as MDA and protein carbonylation, are related to frailty and not to age or sex. These parameters may be considered as potential biomarkers of frailty in the context of a multidisciplinary health-promoting approach for older adults.