Abstract P257: Olfactory Impairment and Frailty in Older Adults the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Introduction: Olfactory impairment, which has been associated with poor physical and cognitive performance has been understudied as a potential marker of frailty among older adults. Hypothesis: Poor compared to good olfaction is associated with the risk of frailty cross-sectionally and in longitudinal assessments. Methods: Olfactory function was evaluated among participants of ARIC Study Visit 5 (2011-2013) using a 12-item Sniffin’ Sticks test. The continuous olfaction score (range 0-12) was categorized as poor (0-8), moderate (9-10), or good (11-12). Frailty was based on the Fried frailty phenotype, encompassing the following criteria: unintentional weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, slowness, and low physical activity. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association of olfaction with frailty at Visit 5 and at Visit 6 (2016-2017), for participants robust at baseline. All models were adjusted for age, sex, race, field center, and cardiovascular risk factors. Interaction by median age, sex, and race was examined. Sensitivity analyses used inverse probability of attrition weighting. Results: Among 5094 study participants (mean age 75.3 (SD 5.0) years, 58% female, 21% Black), 32.5% had poor olfaction at Visit 5. A gradient in the association of olfaction categories with frailty status was observed in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The adjusted odds ratio for the cross-sectional association of poor vs. good olfaction with frailty was 2.08 (95% CI 1.51, 2.86) and it was 1.82 (95% CI 0.86, 3.87) in longitudinal analysis (median follow-up time: 4 years). The findings remained consistent when adjusting for cardiovascular health and attrition. No observed associations differed by race or sex. Conclusion: Poor olfaction is associated with prevalent and incident frailty. These findings suggest olfaction as a marker of frailty in older adults.