Table 2.
Frailty and bone health parameters
| Variable | Heel quantitative ultrasound | Areal bone mineral density | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjusted β coefficient (95% CI)a | Adjusted β coefficient (95% CI)a | ||||
| SOS (m/s) | BUA (dB/MHz) | QUI | Lumbar spine | Femoral neck | |
| Fried frailty category | n = 2961 | n = 2961 | n = 2961 | n = 673 | n = 671 |
| Robust | Referent | Referent | Referent | Referent | Referent |
| Pre-frail | −5.3 (−8.1, −2.4)*** | −2.5 (−4.1, −0.9)** | −3.2 (−5.0, −1.4)*** | 0.00062 (−0.031, 0.032) | −0.0021 (−0.024, 0.020) |
| Frail | −17.4 (−25.4, −9.4)*** | −10.2 (−14.6, −5.7)*** | −11.4 (−16.4, −6.5)*** | 0.0044 (−0.096, 0.10) | −0.084 (−0.15, −0.014)* |
| Frailty index category | n = 2442 | n = 2442 | n = 2442 | n = 581 | n = 580 |
| Low | Referent | Referent | Referent | Referent | Referent |
| Medium | −8.7 (−12.6, −4.7)*** | −5.4 (−7.6, −3.2)*** | −5.7 (−8.2, −3.3)*** | 0.032 (−0.014, 0.078) | −0.0049 (−0.037, 0.027) |
| High | −11.6 (−18.9, −4.3)** | −7.0 (−11.1, −3.0)* | −7.8 (−12.3, −3.2)** | −0.13 (−0.24, −0.024)* | −0.019 (−0.0034, −0.0015) |
| Frialty indexb | −44.8 (−59.5, −30.0)*** | −25.5 (−33.7, −17.3)*** | −28.7 (−37.9, −19.6)*** | −0.027 (−0.21, 0.16) | −0.083 (−0.21, 0.044) |
Lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD is measured in g/cm2.*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.
aAdjusted for age, BMI and centre. Results are presented as adjusted β coefficients with robust/low frailty category as the referent group. These results represent the expected difference in bone parameters for each group, compared to the robust category.
bFI expressed as a continuous measure.