Abstract

Background: Early-life exposures have been associated with the risk of frailty in old age. We investigated whether early-life exposures predict the level and rate of change in a frailty index (FI) from midlife into old age.

Methods: A linear mixed model analysis was performed using data from 3 measurement occasions over 17 years in participants from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study (n = 2 000) aged 57–84 years. A 41-item FI was calculated on each occasion. Information on birth size, maternal body mass index (BMI), growth in infancy and childhood, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), and early-life stress (wartime separation from both parents) was obtained from registers and health care records.

Results: At age 57 years the mean FI level was 0.186 and the FI levels increased by 0.34%/year from midlife into old age. Larger body size at birth associated with a slower increase in FI levels from midlife into old age. Per 1 kg greater birth weight the increase in FI levels per year was −0.087 percentage points slower (95% confidence interval = −0.163, −0.011; p = 0.026). Higher maternal BMI was associated with a higher offspring FI level in midlife and a slower increase in FI levels into old age. Larger size, faster growth from infancy to childhood, and low SES in childhood were all associated with a lower FI level in midlife but not with its rate of change.

Conclusions: Early-life factors seem to contribute to disparities in frailty from midlife into old age. Early-life factors may identify groups that could benefit from frailty prevention, optimally initiated early in life.