Older Survivors of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) with Chronic Graft Vs. Host Disease (cGvHD) Demonstrate Higher Risk of Frailty As Compared with Autologous HCT Recipients: A Report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study-2

Approximately 10% of older (≥65y) individuals in the general population demonstrate frailty (Collard RM et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012;60:1487-92). HCT recipients are at risk for accelerated aging, given the high-intensity therapeutic exposures and excessive burden of morbidity after HCT. We examined the prevalence and predictors of frailty in elderly (≥65y) HCT survivors. Participants included 276 older HCT survivors (median age at study participation: 70 y (65-84), who had undergone HCT (allogeneic: n=83, autologous: n=196) between 1985-2010. Median time from HCT was 8.9y (3.7-29.1). Following well established survey-based screening tools for frailty (Pialoux T et al. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2012;12:189-97), all participants completed a self-report survey that included questions pertaining to: low lean muscle mass, self-reported exhaustion, low energy expenditure, slow walking speed, and muscle weakness. Prefrailty included 2, while frailty included ≥3 conditions. The prevalence of prefrailty and frailty was 28% and 13%, respectively. After adjusting for age at enrollment, sex, race, education and employment status, survivors with low income (annual household income