ArticleBMC public health2025
Association of frailty and its trajectory with the risk of cancer: evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS).
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Long-term impact of childhood exposure to interparental physical violence on cancer risk in adulthood: a prospective cohort study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Trajectories of Frailty and Depression and Their Associations with the Risk of Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Findings from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and Validation of Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The joint association of sleep duration and physical activity with frailty among older adults: the first evidence from CHARLS.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Association of latent class trajectories of frailty with incident symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in Chinese postmenopausal women: a nationwide cohort study from China.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Changes in Frailty and Incident Cancer: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
- Healthy lifestyle reduces frailty-associated overall and site-specific cancer risks: a prospective large cohort study in Chinese adults.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
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Abstract
backgroundFrailty can be identified in both middle-aged and older adults. However, longitudinal studies that examine whether frailty is associated with incident cancer are currently lacking. This study aimed to comprehensively examine the impact of baseline frailty levels and their changing trajectories over time on the risk of cancer.
methodsWe assessed frailty status using the frailty index based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2020. First, the association between baseline frailty and cancer risk was analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Second, based on the CHARLS data from 2011 to 2020, we used Group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) to identify trajectories of frailty development during the four follow-up periods from 2011 to 2020. Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the association between frailty trajectories and the risk of cancer incidence during the follow-up period.
resultsA total of 17,708 participants were involved at the baseline survey in CHARLS 2011. During a mean follow-up period of 8.05 years, 248 cancer events occurred. Compared with non-frailty individuals, participants in pre-frailty and frailty states had a 34% (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.75) and 66% (HR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.07-2.56) increased risk of overall cancer incidence, respectively. Based on repeated measurements from 2011 to 2018, three trajectories of frailty were identified among 9,173 participants. Compared to the low-level stable group, the high-level increase group had the highest risk of cancer, with an associated HR (95% CI) of 5.43 (1.07-5.73). This was followed by the medium-level increase group, with an associated HR (95% CI 2.86 (1.27-6.43). When stratified by sex and age, participants aged ≥ 60 years and female participants in the high-level increase frailty group had a higher risk of developing cancer.
conclusionFrailty is associated with cancer risk. Medium and high levels of the frailty index are significantly associated with an increased risk of cancer incidence. In addition, more attention should be paid to the risk of cancer in people aged ≥ 60 years and in women with high levels of frailty.
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