Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2019 | Biomarkers | Research article
Advanced glycation end products and their ratio to soluble receptor are associated with limitations in physical functioning only in women: results from the CARLA cohort
Published in: BMC Geriatrics | Issue 1/2019
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Background
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), modifications of proteins or amino acids, are increasingly produced and accumulated with age-related diseases. Recent studies suggested that the ratio of AGEs and their soluble receptor (sRAGE) is a more accurate biomarker for age-related diseases than each separately. We aim to investigate whether this also applies for physical functioning in a broad age-spectrum.
Methods
AGE and sRAGE levels, and physical functioning (SF-12 questionnaire) of 967 men and 812 women (45–83 years) were measured in the CARLA study. We used ordinal logistic regression to examine associations between AGEs, sRAGE, and AGE/sRAGE ratio with physical functioning in sex- and age-stratified models.
Results
Higher levels of AGEs and AGE/sRAGE ratio were associated with lower physical functioning only in women, even after consideration of classical lifestyle and age-related factors (education, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, creatinine clearance, diabetes mellitus, lipid lowering and antihypertensive drugs) (odds ratio (OR) =0.86, 95%confidence interval = 0.74–0.98 and OR = 0.86, 95%CI = 0.75–0.98 for AGEs and AGE/sRAGE ratio respectively). We could not demonstrate a significant difference across age.
Conclusions
We showed a sex-specific association between physical functioning and AGEs and AGE/sRAGE, but no stronger associations of the latter with physical functioning. Further investigation is needed in the pathophysiology of this association.