Frailty - A measure of your true age

The August edition of Nature Aging has a very interesting review article on frailty.

Frailty is a state weakness, most often associated with old age. Indicators of frailty are

  • weakness
  • fatigue
  • weight loss
  • low physical activity
  • poor balance
  • low gait speed
  • visual impairment and 
  • cognitive impairment
Frailty as a root cause of other age-associated diseases

The development of frailty is associated with not just an increased risk of an disability or death from falls but also increased risk of developing physiological diseases including
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Hypertension and stroke
  • Rheumatoid arthritis and
  • Diabetes

Frailty is also linked to an increased susceptibility to infection, including COVID-19.

Our skeletal muscles provide an important metabolic stimulus and regulatory function for the rest of our body. The loss of this stimulus and regulation leads is largely responsible for the susceptibility to disease. 

Adding on to this is a loss of independence which further enhances the decline in muscular strength and causes significant psychological stresses on the elderly. 



Frailty is not directly linked to our age

Not all persons develop frailty at the same rate as they age. You may have seen a spectrum of seniors of the same age (that is our "chronological age"), whose degree of frailty varies from little or no frailty to being completely dependent on others.

For this reason, our chronological age is not a good measure of our how old we are or how much we can continue to contribute to our job, community or family. 

Risk factors in the development of frailty. 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00099-3



The risk factors linked to how quickly we will develop frailty in old age, are the same as those which cause sarcopenia or muscle wastage:

  • Your genetics
  • Bad luck (e.g. an accident or long term illness) 
  • Apoor diet 
  • A sedentary lifestyle
  • Social isolation 
 However, frailty is a consequence of your past. The later in life you take steps to prevent the development of frailty, the more rapidly will it develop in old age.

Good dietary and exercise habits starting from young will have significant benefits in old age. 

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