Sarcopenia, Frailty and Ageing
Publication Date
2015-05-25Alternative Title
Ageing well: a review of sarcopenia and frailty
Journal Title
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
ISSN
0029-6651
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Volume
74
Pages
337-347
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Keevil, V., & Romero-Ortuno, R. (2015). Sarcopenia, Frailty and Ageing. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 74 337-347. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665115002037
Abstract
‘Ageing well’ has been declared a global health priority by the World Health Organisation
and the role of sarcopenia and frailty in late-life health is receiving increasing attention.
Frailty is the decline in an individual’s homeostatic function, strength and physiologic
reserves leading to increased vulnerability, whilst sarcopenia describes the loss of muscle
mass and function with age. The conceptual definitions of these conditions have been widely
agreed but there is a lack of conscensus on how to measure them. We review the different
operational definitions described in the literature and the evidence that, whatever definition
used, the prevalence and clinical impact of these conditions is high. We also consider the
commonality of low physical function to both conditions, a feature which could provide a
pragmatic way forward in terms of identifying those at risk. Objective measures of physical
function such as usual walking speed are simple and feasible measures, extensively validated
against health outcomes. Additionally, clinical applications of sarcopenia and frailty are
reviewed with particular consideration to their potential role in the management of older
people undergoing surgery. Frailty appears to outperform traditional anaesthetic and surgical
risk scores in terms of its association with post-operative complications, length of hospital
stay, institutionalisation and mortality. However, even within this sub-specialty area there is
wide variation in the approaches used to measure frailty and there is an urgent need for
studies to utilise established, validated and reproducible methods to identify sarcopenia and
frailty in their study participants, in order to expedite scientific development.
Keywords
sarcopenia, frail elderly, aging
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665115002037
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/256198
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