Lipid peroxidation, antioxidant status and survival in institucionalised elderly: A five-years longitudinal study. Free Radical Res

Abstract Oxidative stress has been related to ageing and risk of death. To determine whether oxidative status was associated with allcause risk of death we carried out a prospective study in 154 non-smoking Spanish elderly without major illness. Baseline glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were analysed in plasma and erythrocytes. a-tocopherol, b-carotene, lycopene and retinol were determined in serum samples and malondialdehyde (MDA), as a lipid peroxidation marker, in plasma. Mean survival time was 4.3 years. A total of 31 death cases (20.1%) occurred during the follow-up. Plasma-MDA predicted mortality independently of all other variables, while erythrocyte-SOD (e-SOD), b-carotene and a-tocopherol were positively associated with survival. a-tocopherol and MDA were revealed as independent predictors in a joint survival model, being the group with low MDA and high a-tocopherol that with the lowest mortality. In conclusion, a higher risk of death was associated with increased lipid peroxidation and lower antioxidant defenses