A person's biological condition in old age partly depends on previous lifestyles. Consequently, the relationship between physical activity and obesity is emerging as an important risk factor for frailty, especially due to the resulting chronic inflammatory state. This inflammation not only leads to sarcopenia, which is basic to the development of frailty, but also affects the vascular and central nervous systems. Therefore, we believe that these two systems should be included in the frailty phenotype. Under these premises, and using the data from the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging, we propose that the frailty phenotype be extended and recommend the use of a scale to evaluate the frailty trait.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.