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Item refines Peer-reviewed Added

Intrinsic capacity and disability and mortality risk in Japanese adults aged 85 to 89

In two Japanese cohorts aged 85 to 89, higher intrinsic capacity was linked to lower risks of disability and death.

KAWP (n = 942) and TOOTH (n = 393) are Japanese cohorts of community-dwelling adults aged 85 to 89. Five intrinsic capacity domains formed a 0–100 score, tested separately in each cohort with adjusted Cox and Fine-Gray models. In KAWP, each 10-point higher score gave hazard ratios of 0.72 for care level 1 certification and 0.78 for death. In TOOTH, the ratios were 0.74 for death and 0.78 for dependency in daily activities or death. An exploratory cardio-renal measure, NT-proBNP with cystatin C, added modest but consistent information on death. The disability link was lost once death was a competing event, and the score is framed as a population-level marker.

Why it is interesting: Evidence on intrinsic capacity is thin past age 85, where disability and death compete. The authors suggest the score captures shared vulnerability to both, as its disability link did not survive competing-risk analysis.

Source
The Journal of Frailty & Aging, 5 November 2026
Paper
Intrinsic capacity and risks of disability and mortality in octogenarians: a prospective analysis of two independent Japanese cohorts
Authors
Osawa Y, Sasaki T, Abe Y, Arai Y
DOI
10.1016/j.tjfa.2026.100230
Type
Peer-reviewed article
Design
Two independent prospective community cohorts of adults aged 85-89 in Japan (KAWP n=942; TOOTH n=393), Cox and Fine-Gray competing-risk models for incident disability and all-cause mortality
Verdict
Refines prior evidence
Driver
Frailty and multimorbidity
Driver
Slowing ageing itself

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