Geriatric Anorexia Study 2.0

The overall aim of this study is to compare feasibility of body weight, body fat, body composition and activity assessments in elderly subjects in long-term care (LTC), nursing home, or assisted living facilities. This will be accomplished through the use of questionnaires in addition to devices that evaluate movement, body composition, and body weight.

The proposed study will consist of an initial intake visit on Day 1, followed by an at-home (i.e. LTC facility, nursing home, and/or assisted living facility) phase where the participant will wear two watch like devices one on each wrist and answer two questions on paper each day. There will be a second visit on day 8 where the participant will complete additional questionnaires and assessments. The participant will continue wearing the wrist-worn devices for days 9-14, with a final visit on day 15 for final assessments and device collection. A window of +/- 3 days will be allocated for the scheduling of all visits to accommodate participant's schedules and commitments. Activities will take place in the care facility where the participant resides, or the Laboratory for Human Neurobiology for those that will commute. The study procedures will be identical for all participants for all Frailty groups.

Inclusion criteria

[separated into the three groups based on the Fried Criteria: 0 - robust, 1-2 - intermediate or pre-frail, 3 or above - frail; enrollment into individual frailty groups will close once the recruitment goal is reached for that group]

• Male or female participants aged 65 years of age and over
• No recent hospitalizations/acute events in last 30 days
• No active or recent (within 12 months) cancer diagnosis except skin cancer [limited to only non-complicated squamous and basal cell skin cancer (SCC/BCC)]
• Body mass index (BMI) < 30 kg/m2
• Able to understand and cooperate with study procedures and able to read, understand and provide informed consent. Evidence of a personally signed and dated informed consent document indicating that the participant, if necessary, their legally authorized representative (LAR) has been informed of all pertinent aspects of the study.
• Native English speakers or demonstrated fluency in English as determined by the Investigator
• WRAT-4 Word Reading Subtest equivalent to 8th grade reading level or greater
• Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of ≥ to 19

Exclusion criteria

• Treatment with an investigational drug within 30 days of enrollment
• Moderate to severe alcohol use disorder diagnosis within 6 months of the screening as disclosed by the subject
• Participants who are investigational site staff members directly involved in the conduct of the study and their family members, site staff members otherwise supervised by the investigator, or participants who are Boston University/Boston Medical Center (BU/BMC) employees directly involved in the conduct of the study
• Inability to comply with study requirements
• Life expectancy of less than 6 months, or actively enrolled in a palliative care program
• Has any clinically significant medical disorder, condition, disease, or clinically significant finding at screening that precludes subject's participation in study activities
• Participants with electronic implant such as pacemaker etc., due to Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) body composition devices (Tanita, Smart body scale) using tiny electrical signal for measurements
• At an increased risk of COVID-19 as determined by the Laboratory for Human Neurobiology COVID-19 Human Subject Risk Assessment Survey
• Temperature equal to or above 100.4 degrees F
• Modified Barthel Index of <40