FRAXI study: version 003
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A longitudinal study of frailty and arterial stiffness, exploring the role of oxidative stress and inflammation.
IRAS ID
304923
Contact name
Chakravarthi Rajkumar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
In this research study, we want to better understand how inflammation affects the cardiovascular system in older adults (>70 years) with multiple medical conditions affecting their daily lives.
Frailty is a phenomenon in which older people’s ability to cope with acute illness and recovering from that illness is compromised due to the accumulation of impairments in multiple organs as people age. Frailty is usually associated with falls, reduced mobility, frequent hospital admissions, memory problems and disability. It is known that as adults grow older, the likelihood of being frail increases.There are several tools for assessing frailty in older people in clinical practice. These tools have largely been based on clinical assessments that take into consideration an older person’s functional abilities, memory, presence of other chronic diseases, and social circumstances.
There are processes occurring at the cellular level such as inflammation and exposure to harmful oxygen products (referred to as ‘oxidative stress’) that are associated with frailty. This study would help us understand how these cellular factors interact in a frail older person. This understanding might help us identify ways to slow down the progression of frailty.
The study measurements will include blood tests and assessment of blood vessels elasticity in response to blood flow (referred to as ‘arterial stiffness’). We want to explore how the cellular processes of oxidative stress and inflammation are related to the degree of arterial stiffness in frail older adults.
This would help us to objectively assess frailty using these indicators- oxidative stress, inflammation and arterial stiffness.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EM/0262
Date of REC Opinion
19 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion