[Frailty and sarcopenia: a new bridge to dementia]

Abstract

Frailty is a predictor of functional decline, falls, hospitalization, and mortality. Fried et al. developed the frailty index, which include 5 simple items: weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, slowness, and low activity. Likewise, sarcopenia indicates an age-related decline in skeletal muscle mass as well as muscle function, which may result in reduced physical capability, poorer quality of life, impaired cardiopulmonary performance, unfavorable metabolic effects, falls, disability, and mortality. Both frailty and sarcopenia could be associated with mild cognitive impairment which leads to dementia. Thus, early initiation of a comprehensive geriatric health examination and a multidomain intervention such as diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring may be useful to prevent frailty and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults.