title: Elevated Serum Carboxymethyl-Lysine, an Advanced Glycation End Product, Predicts Severe Walking Disability in Older Women: The Women's Health and Aging Study I.
abstract: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia. Our aim was to characterize the relationship between serum carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), a major circulating AGE, and incident severe walking disability (inability to walk or walking speed <0.4 m/sec) over 30 months of followup in 394 moderately to severely disabled women, ≥65 years, living in the community in Baltimore, Maryland (the Women's Health and Aging Study I). During followup, 154 (26.4%) women developed severe walking disability, and 23 women died. Women in the highest quartile of serum CML had increased risk of developing of severe walking disability in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, adjusting for age and other potential confounders. Women with elevated serum CML are at an increased risk of developing severe walking disability. AGEs are a potentially modifiable risk factor. Further work is needed to establish a causal relationship between AGEs and walking disability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Semba
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: Debra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Schaumberg
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrucci
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Varadhan