09Dec 2021
Otolaryngic sensory loss as a measure of frailty among older US adults

Otolaryngic sensory loss as a measure of frailty among older US adults

Frailty is a syndrome characterized by reduced physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to poor health outcomes. Disruption of sensorineural function appears to serve as a novel biomarker of frailty. Using population‐level data, we sought to characterize the association between otolaryngic sensory dysfunction and frailty. A cross‐sectional analysis of the 2011‐2012 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was performed on adults ≥40 years of age (n = 2138). Participants were grouped by subjective gustatory dysfunction (sGD), olfactory dysfunction (sOD), hearing loss (sHL), and measured hearing loss (mHL) with pure tone averages (PTAs). Frailty was operationalized using a continuous 36‐item frailty index (FI) scored from 0 to 1, stratified in 4 categories (“non‐frail,” “vulnerable,” “frail,” or “most frail”)...

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