Older women with a common viral infection are more vulnerable to frailty and die earlier than other women of their age.
Older women with a common viral infection are more vulnerable to frailty and die earlier than other women of their age.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infects most people at some point in their lives. In healthy people, the infection usually causes no symptoms, and is considered dangerous only for newborns infected during pregnancy and for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV/AIDS. However, once CMV gets into the body, it is a life-long infection. That poses the question whether the virus has any health effects as people grow old. To study the impact of CMV on the overall health of as one ages, researchers studied 635 American women in their seventies.
A total of 543 women had IgG antibodies to CMV (denoting CMV infection in the past), while the rest - 92 women - were negative for these antibodies against CMV. When the researchers divided the first group into four subgroups based on their antibody levels, it was found that the group with the highest levels was more than twice as likely to become frail over the next three years as compared to antibody-negative women. Among women who were negative for CMV antibodies, nearly 5 percent became frail per year; that figure was 10 percent in the group with the highest CMV antibody levels. When the researchers factored in other variables - including age, race and any diagnoses of heart disease or diabetes - high CMV antibody levels remained linked to an increased risk of frailty.
Similarly, women with the highest antibody levels had a nearly three-fold greater risk of dying over the next five years as women with no CMV antibodies. A total of 91 women died during the study period; the yearly death rate was 1.5 percent in the antibody-negative group, and 5.5 percent in the group with the highest antibody levels.
In theory, a greater number of CMV reactivations, or a longer exposure to infection, could affect a person's health by creating more inflammation in the body. Inflammation is believed to contribute to a number of disease processes; heart disease, for example, involves inflammation within the blood vessels. More studies are still needed to understand how persistent CMV infection may affect the health of people with normal immune function as the above findings point only to a link between CMV and frailty and mortality, and do not prove cause-and-effect.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infects most people at some point in their lives. In healthy people, the infection usually causes no symptoms, and is considered dangerous only for newborns infected during pregnancy and for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV/AIDS. However, once CMV gets into the body, it is a life-long infection. That poses the question whether the virus has any health effects as people grow old. To study the impact of CMV on the overall health of as one ages, researchers studied 635 American women in their seventies.
A total of 543 women had IgG antibodies to CMV (denoting CMV infection in the past), while the rest - 92 women - were negative for these antibodies against CMV. When the researchers divided the first group into four subgroups based on their antibody levels, it was found that the group with the highest levels was more than twice as likely to become frail over the next three years as compared to antibody-negative women. Among women who were negative for CMV antibodies, nearly 5 percent became frail per year; that figure was 10 percent in the group with the highest CMV antibody levels. When the researchers factored in other variables - including age, race and any diagnoses of heart disease or diabetes - high CMV antibody levels remained linked to an increased risk of frailty.
Similarly, women with the highest antibody levels had a nearly three-fold greater risk of dying over the next five years as women with no CMV antibodies. A total of 91 women died during the study period; the yearly death rate was 1.5 percent in the antibody-negative group, and 5.5 percent in the group with the highest antibody levels.
In theory, a greater number of CMV reactivations, or a longer exposure to infection, could affect a person's health by creating more inflammation in the body. Inflammation is believed to contribute to a number of disease processes; heart disease, for example, involves inflammation within the blood vessels. More studies are still needed to understand how persistent CMV infection may affect the health of people with normal immune function as the above findings point only to a link between CMV and frailty and mortality, and do not prove cause-and-effect.
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