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Inflammageing: chronic inflammation in ageing, cardiovascular disease, and frailty
Ferrucci L, Fabbri E.. Nature reviews. Cardiology, 2018-09-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Most older individuals develop inflammageing, a condition characterized by elevated levels of blood inflammatory markers that carries high susceptibility to chronic morbidity, disability, frailty, and premature death. Potential mechanisms of inflammageing include genetic susceptibility, central obesity, increased gut permeability, changes to microbiota composition, cellular senescence, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, oxidative stress caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, immune cell dysregulation, and chronic infections. Inflammageing is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and clinical trials suggest that this association is causal. Inflammageing is also a risk factor for chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, depression, dementia, and sarcopenia, but whether modulating inflammation beneficially affects the clinical course of non-CVD health problems is controversial. This uncertainty is an important issue to address because older patients with CVD are often affected by multimorbidity and frailty - which affect clinical manifestations, prognosis, and response to treatment - and are associated with inflammation by mechanisms similar to those in CVD. The hypothesis that inflammation affects CVD, multimorbidity, and frailty by inhibiting growth factors, increasing catabolism, and interfering with homeostatic signalling is supported by mechanistic studies but requires confirmation in humans. Whether early modulation of inflammageing prevents or delays the onset of cardiovascular frailty should be tested in clinical trials.
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APA 7th
Ferrucci, L., & Fabbri, E. (2018). Inflammageing: chronic inflammation in ageing, cardiovascular disease, and frailty. Nature reviews. Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-018-0064-2
Vancouver
Ferrucci L, Fabbri E. Inflammageing: chronic inflammation in ageing, cardiovascular disease, and frailty. Nature reviews. Cardiology. 2018. doi:10.1038/s41569-018-0064-2. PMID: 30065258.
BibTeX
@article{ferrucci2018-30065258,
author = {Ferrucci, L. and Fabbri, E.},
title = {{Inflammageing: chronic inflammation in ageing, cardiovascular disease, and frailty}},
journal = {Nature reviews. Cardiology},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1038/s41569-018-0064-2},
pmid = {30065258},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-018-0064-2}
}
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Key findings
- Inflammageing is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and clinical trials suggest that this association is causal.
- This uncertainty is an important issue to address because older patients with CVD are often affected by multimorbidity and frailty - which affect clinical manifestations, prognosis, and response to treatment - and are associated with inflammation by mechanisms similar to those in CVD.
Why it matters
This review describes inflammageing as a risk factor for several conditions including dementia, but states that whether modulating inflammation beneficially affects the clinical course of non-cardiovascular health problems is controversial. It does not establish that treating inflammation prevents or cures Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 54/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Nature reviews. Cardiology) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Nature Reviews Cardiology: journal h-index 250 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 3,638 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 363.8 citations a year over 10 year(s) since 2018 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 21.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 13 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 1,882 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 1 / 4 | Last-listed author Elisa Fabbri: h-index 17 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | National Institutes of Health: institution h-index 2,723 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 30065258) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 54 / 100 | — |
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