Lack of Energy in Old Age May Foretell Illness (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- When elderly patients complainthey have a lack of energy, doctors shouldn't dismiss it as a normal partof aging, say researchers who found that lack of energy (anergia) isassociated with several health problems and higher rates ofhospitalization and death.

The study of more than 2,100 New York City residents, ages 65 to 104,found that almost one in five reported so little energy, they spent mostof the day sitting on the sofa.

"When elderly people complain they're tired, most doctors say, 'Yeah,well, you're old.' They tell their patients that feeling listless is anexpected part of aging, but there are reasons people are tired, and theyneed to be investigated. For clinicians, the message from our study isthat a lack of energy is widespread in the elderly, but it's not normal,"senior author Dr. Mathew Maurer, associate professor of clinical medicineat Columbia University Medical Center, said in a news release.

In this study, participants were classified as anergic if they saidthey sat around due to lack of energy and agreed with two of the sixfollowing statements: "I recently have not had enough energy;" "I feltslowed physically in the past month;" "I did less than usual in the pastmonth;" "My slowness is worse in the morning;" "I wake up feeling tired;""I nap more than two hours a day."

The researchers found that the 18 percent of study participantsclassified as anergic reported more arthritis, sleep disorders,cardiovascular symptoms and other health issues. They also reported twiceas many overnight hospitalizations, emergency department visits and homecare services. In addition, anergia was associated with a 60 percentgreater rate of death in the six years after participants were surveyed,the study said.

The findings were published in the Journal of Gerontology.

Heart and kidney dysfunction, arthritis, lung disease, anemia, anddepression are among the many conditions that may cause anergia.

"I believe anergia is the universal language by which the elderly talkabout their health problems," Maurer said. "Instead of noting symptoms ofpain or a depressed mood, many older adults feel more comfortable tellingtheir physicians that they are tired. As health care providers, we need tostart learning how to further identify the underlying causes of this lackof vigor and address them."

Maurer and his colleagues wrote that anergia needs to be regarded as ageriatric condition similar to common age-related syndromes such as memoryimpairment and increased risk of falling.

In an extension of this initial study, the Columbia researchers foundthat anergia occurred in 39 percent of older adults with heart failure.They also found demonstrable differences in physical activity levels andcircadian rhythm between those with anergia and those without anergia.

"As our population ages, it has become paramount to the health of ournation to accurately describe the health problems associated with age,"Dr. Linda P. Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health atColumbia University Medical Center, said in the medical center newsrelease.

"A central feature of the frailty phenotype that we described years agois self-reported exhaustion. The current study suggests that this concernexpressed by patients or their caregivers is important and may be a veryuseful question in identifying older adults susceptible to functionaldecline and poor health outcomes," Fried said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains .