HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by LaCroix, A. Z. Articles by Woods, N. F. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by LaCroix, A. Z. Articles by Woods, N. F.

Statin Use and Incident Frailty in Women Aged 65 Years or Older: Prospective Findings From the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study

¹ WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington.
² Geriatric Pharmacy Program, School of Pharmacy, and ³ School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle.
⁴ Healthy Aging Research Program, Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
⁵ Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
⁶ Department of Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
⁷ Departments of Preventive Medicine and Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.

Address correspondence to Andrea Z. LaCroix, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave. N., M3-A410, PO Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109-1024. E-mail: alacroix{at}whi.org

Background. Inflammatory biomarkers have shown consistent associations with disability and frailty in older adults. Statin medications may reduce the incidence the frailty because of their anti-inflammatory effects. This study examines associations between current use, duration, and potency of statin medications and incident frailty in initially nonfrail women 65 years old or older.

Methods. The authors conducted a prospective analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS) conducted at 40 clinical centers in the United States. Eligible women were nonfrail and 65–79 years old at baseline (n = 25,378). Current statin use at baseline was ascertained through direct inspection of medicine containers during clinic visits. Frailty was ascertained through self-reported indicators and physical measurements at baseline and 3-year clinic contacts. Components of frailty included self-reported low physical function, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintended weight loss. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to adjust for covariates predicting incident frailty.

Results. Among the 25,378 eligible women, 3453 (13.6%) developed frailty by the 3-year follow-up contact. Current statin use had no association with incident frailty (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85–1.16). Duration and potency of statin use were also not significantly associated with incident frailty. Among low potency statin users, longer duration of use was associated with reduced risk of frailty (p for trend =.02). A similar pattern of results was observed when frailty was studied in the absence of intervening, incident cardiovascular events.

Conclusions. Overall, incidence of frailty was similar in current statin users and nonusers.

Key Words: Statin use • Frailty • Disability • Women's Health Initiative