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Shared and specific blood biomarkers for multimorbidity.
Alice Margherita Ornago1,2, Caterina Gregorio2, Federico Triolo2
1School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Biological deficits accumulate with aging, increasing chronic disease risk. Key blood biomarkers, particularly metabolic ones like hemoglobin A1c, are linked to multimorbidity and disease progression.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology and Chronic Disease Epidemiology
- Biomarker Discovery and Validation
- Metabolic Syndrome and Aging
Background:
- Aging is characterized by accumulating biological deficits, leading to increased susceptibility to multiple chronic diseases (multimorbidity).
- The precise biological mechanisms driving multimorbidity are not fully understood.
- Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for developing interventions to mitigate disease accumulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between a comprehensive panel of blood biomarkers and multimorbidity in older adults.
- To identify specific biological processes and biomarkers associated with different multimorbidity patterns and disease accumulation rates.
- To externally validate the findings in an independent cohort.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 54 blood biomarkers in 2,247 individuals aged 60+ from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen.
- Multimorbidity assessment using baseline disease count, latent class analysis for patterns, and 15-year disease accumulation rate.
- Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to examine biomarker associations, with external validation in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.
Main Results:
- Growth differentiation factor 15, hemoglobin A1c, cystatin C, leptin, and insulin were consistently associated with all multimorbidity measures.
- Specific biomarkers showed distinct associations with different multimorbidity patterns.
- Faster disease accumulation correlated with gamma-glutamyl transferase and inversely with albumin.
Conclusions:
- Multiple biological processes, with metabolic disturbances as a key driver, contribute to multimorbidity through shared and distinct pathways.
- Identified biomarkers and processes could serve as targets for interventions aimed at reducing disease accumulation in aging populations.
- Findings were validated in an independent cohort, supporting their generalizability.
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