Abstract
Circulating factors that have an effect on SIRT1 expression are influenced by caloric restriction. To determine the association between frailty and such circulating factors, we measured serum-induced SIRT1 expression from a nested cohort of frail (n = 77) and robust (n = 82) participants from Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project, a population-based study of community-dwelling men older than 70 years. Serum-induced SIRT1 expression was not different between frail and robust men (103.1 ± 17.0 versus 100.4 ± 19.3 μg/L). However, subsequent analyses showed that men with the lowest values (first quartile) were less likely to be frail (odds ratio = 0.5, 95% confidence interval = 0.2-1.0, p = .04) and had higher total body lean mass (p = .001) than the other participants. Serum-induced SIRT1 expression did not correlate with age, diseases, medications, albumin, fasting glucose, or lipids. Overall, there was no association between frailty and serum-induced SIRT1 expression; however, post hoc analysis suggested that there might be a paradoxical association between low serum-induced SIRT1 expression and robustness.