Patients with lower levels of free testosterone and DHEA-S experienced worsening 15-meter walk time, five chair-stands, physical quality of life, and overall worsening of frailty phenotypes at follow up.
Dr. Wu and his colleagues measured frailness in patients by looking for the presence of frailty phenotypes, which include slowness, sarcopenia, exhaustion, low activity, and weakness.
If one-two of these criteria were present, patients would be considered “prefrail,” and if three or more were present, patients would be deemed “frail.”
Patients experienced an average 2.5% increase in frailty per year during the time between baseline and follow up, Dr. Wu told attendees.