Identification of older populations at increased risk of physical frailty using biochemical approaches could improve screening accuracy. The aim of this study was to study the relationship between immune markers and independent components of physical frailty in institutionalized older women. A sample of 358 institutionalized-dwelling women, aged 75 years and older, were assessed for biosocial factors and general health status, pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines, sex steroid hormones, salivary anti-microbial proteins, blood cells counts and the five Fried's physical frailty components that allowed for classification of the sample into frail, prefrailty and not-frail subgroups. Results showed that cytokines IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β, TNF-α, and the TNF-α/IL-10 ratio, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, salivary cortisol and α-amylase were all associated with frailty. Weakness and Exhaustion were the frailty components that were most strongly associated with these biomarkers. Salivary α-amylase was the biomarker that best explained frailty, as it was associated with all five components of physical frailty, and could be used as a potential screening tool. Future research needs to investigate the causal-effect association between salivary innate immune makers, susceptibility to infection and frailty.

使用生化方法鉴定身体虚弱风险增加的老年人口可以提高筛查的准确性。这项研究的目的是研究制度化老年妇女的免疫标志物与身体虚弱的独立组成部分之间的关​​系。对358名75岁及75岁以上的制度化居住妇女的样本进行了评估，评估其生物社会因素和一般健康状况，促炎和抗炎细胞因子，性类固醇激素，唾液抗微生物蛋白，血细胞计数以及五位弗里德的身体脆弱成分，可将样品分为脆弱，预脆弱和非脆弱亚组。结果显示，细胞因子IL-6，IL-10，IL-1β，TNF-α和TNF-α/ IL-10比值表示平均红细胞血红蛋白，唾液皮质醇和α-淀粉酶均与体弱相关。虚弱和精疲力竭是与这些生物标志物最密切相关的脆弱因素。唾液α-淀粉酶是最能说明脆弱的生物标志物，因为它与身体脆弱的所有五个成分有关，并且可以用作潜在的筛查工具。未来的研究需要研究唾液先天免疫产生者，感染的易感性和虚弱之间的因果关系。