Basal body temperature as a biomarker of healthy aging

Scattered evidence indicates that a lower basal body temperature may be associated with prolonged health span, yet few studies have directly evaluated this relationship. We examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between early morning oral temperature (95.0–98.6 °F) and usual gait spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AGE 2016-12, Vol.38 (5-6), p.445-454
Main Authors: Simonsick, Eleanor M., Meier, Helen C. S., Shaffer, Nancy Chiles, Studenski, Stephanie A., Ferrucci, Luigi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adiposity - physiology
Age
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - physiology
Baltimore
Biomarkers
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Body Mass Index
Body temperature
Body Temperature - physiology
Cell Biology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Fatigue - metabolism
Female
Frailty
Gait
Gait - physiology
Geriatrics/Gerontology
Hand Strength - physiology
Health
Health care
Health maintenance organizations
HMOs
Humans
Hypotheses
Life Sciences
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Metabolism
Molecular Medicine
Obesity - metabolism
Older people
Original
Original Article
Physical Exertion - physiology
Statistical analysis
Walking
Walking - physiology
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Summary:Scattered evidence indicates that a lower basal body temperature may be associated with prolonged health span, yet few studies have directly evaluated this relationship. We examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between early morning oral temperature (95.0–98.6 °F) and usual gait speed, endurance walk performance, fatigability, and grip strength in 762 non-frail men (52 %) and women aged 65–89 years participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Since excessive adiposity (body mass index ≥35 kg/m 2 or waist-to-height ratio ≥0.62) may alter temperature set point, associations were also examined within adiposity strata. Overall, controlling for age, race, sex, height, exercise, and adiposity, lower temperature was associated with faster gait speed, less time to walk 400 m quickly, and lower perceived exertion following 5-min of walking at 0.67 m/s (all p  ≤ 0.02). In the non-adipose ( N  = 662), these associations were more robust (all p  ≤ 0.006). Direction of association was reversed in the adipose ( N  = 100), but none attained significance (all p  > 0.22). Over 2.2 years, basal temperature was not associated with functional change in the overall population or non-adipose. Among the adipose, lower baseline temperature was associated with greater decline in endurance walking performance ( p  = 0.006). In longitudinal analyses predicting future functional performance, low temperature in the non-adipose was associated with faster gait speed ( p  = 0.021) and less time to walk 400 m quickly ( p  = 0.003), whereas in the adipose, lower temperature was associated with slower gait speed ( p  = 0.05) and more time to walk 400 m ( p  = 0.008). In older adults, lower basal body temperature appears to be associated with healthy aging in the absence of excessive adiposity.
ISSN:0161-9152
2509-2715
1574-4647
2509-2723
DOI:10.1007/s11357-016-9952-8