We aimed to investigate the role of the laboratory frailty index (LFI) in diabetic complications and incident disability in admitted older patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We retrospectively collected the clinical data of older patients with T2DM from December 2018 to May 2020. Frailty was quantified using the LFI, which considers the accumulation of 27 items of abnormal laboratory outcomes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between LFI and diabetes-related adverse outcomes. In total, 293 consecutive older patients with T2DM were recruited for this study. According to the predefined LFI criteria, 110 (37.5%) participants were non-frail, 131 (44.7%) were prefrail, and 52 (17.8%) were frail. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that LFI was associated with the diabetic microangiopathy complications (odds ratio for prefrail [ORprefrail] 1.760, 95% confidence interval for prefrail [CIprefrail] 1.019-3.041, P = .043; ORfrail 4.667, 95% CIfrail 2.012-10.826, P < .001) and activities of daily living (ADL) disability (ORprefrail 2.323, 95% CIprefrail 1.209-4.463, P = .011; ORfrail 9.367, 95% CIfrail 4.030-21.775, P < .001), but not with the diabetic macroangiopathy complications and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Frailty, as determined by the LFI, was proven to be an effective tool for the prediction of diabetic microangiopathy complications and ADL disability.
Keywords: inflammation; laboratory frailty index; macroangiopathy complications; microangiopathy complications; type 2 diabetes mellitus.