Osteoporosis and Sarcopenia Increase Frailty Syndrome in the Elderly

Conclusions World population is aging and the increase in life expectancy is often unhealthy. In particular, musculoskeletal aging, which leads to sarcopenia and osteoporosis, has several causes such as changes in body composition, inflammation, and hormonal imbalance. Sarcopenia, osteoporosis, and more frequently, sarcopenic obesity are commonly associated with aging and frequently closely linked each other, often leading to the development of a frailty syndrome. Frailty syndrome favors an increased risk of loss function in daily activities, for cardiovascular diseases, cancers, falls, and mortality. As the number of elderly people continues to increase, it is important to identify people at risk of frailty early and to treat and/or prevent its damages, developing interventions that can promote a “successful aging.” The complexity and heterogeneity of frailty syndrome requires a multidimensional clinical approach based on healthy nutrition, psychosocial well-being, regular physical exercise, and pharmacological measures, which seem to prevent and control chronic diseases affecting both life expectancy and quality of life, thereby reducing mortality. Of course, new basic and clinical studies are necessary to better understand the complex pathophysiological mechanisms leading to frailty and to carry out effective measures of interventions to prevent its development and treat its damages. Author Contributions EAG, PP, and SM equally contributed to the prepara...
Source: Frontiers in Endocrinology - Category: Endocrinology Source Type: research