In physiology, frailty is an umbrella term. It includes various age-associated impairments that contribute to reduced health and function among older adults.

The multifaceted condition is an inevitable feature of the aging process, but it is conditional on a few factors. Its onset and pathology depend on behavioral, psychological, genetic and dietary conditions.

Comorbidities also have a huge role to play with respect to the rate of decline.

Sadly, a new study conducted by researchers at Flinders University posits that pre-frailty, which includes poor balance, a decreased ability to control spinal and pelvic posture, diminished foot sensations, and an impaired ability to maintain weight and nutrition, occurs in 45% of people between the ages of 40 and 49.

This research identified pre-frailty and frailty states in people aged in their 40s and 50s. Pre-frailty in body systems performance can be detected by a range of mutable measures, and interventions to prevent progression to frailty could be commenced from the fourth decade of life, the authors wrote in the new paper. There is little known about pre-frailty attributes or when changes that contribute to frailty might be detectable and amenable to change. This study explores pre-frailty and frailty in independent community-dwelling adults aged 4075years.

The authors procured their 665 participants from local council networks, a national bank and a university located in Adelaide, Australia.

Frailty scores were calculated via the presence of the following phenotypes:

If a participant did not evidence any of the phenotypes indexed above they were classified as not-frail.

Participants who endured between one and two phenotypes were categorized as pre-frail. Lastly, patients who exhibited three or more phenotypes were identified as medically frail.

Factor analysis was applied to binary forms of 25 published frailty measures Differences were tested in mean factor scores between the three Fried frailty phenotypes and ROC curves estimated predictive capacity of factors, the authors continued.

Of 656 participants, 59.2% were classified as not frail, 39.0% pre-frail and 1.8% frail. There were no gender or age differences. Seven frailty factors were identified, incorporating all 25 frailty measures. Factors 1 and 7 significantly predicted progression from not-frail to pre-frail, combined dynamic trunk stability and lower limb functional strength, balance, foot sensation, hearing, lean muscle mass, and low BMI; comprising continence and nutrition.

When we strip all of the poetry away, aging is a slow and precise process, commissioned by a board of biological systems. Everything from sunlight to food becomes increasingly toxic to us, forcing degeneration to undertake a quicker and quicker pace.

Understanding this fundamental process enables cosmetics and therapeutics to offset certain key mechanisms. Even so, we dont have a hope of bypassing natures intended wholesale.

The only way to evade agings wrath, medically speaking, is by yielding to its certainty.

Diet, exercise, quality sleep, and a stable mental state foster the kind of conditions that allow us to age gracefully if not fractionally slower than the purported norm.

Successful aging seeks to optimize health and independence Indicators for successful aging include minimal chronic disease, physical decline or depressive symptoms, and optimized social support, social participation and economic satisfaction, the authors conclude. People working from home during the self-isolation period can take the opportunity to reassess their health, habits, and routines to seek ways to make their daily routines and homes better places to live, and live longer in the process, concludes study co-author Professor Anthony Maeder, from the Digital Health Research Centre at Flinders University.

Be sure to read the full report published in the Journal BMC Geriatrics.

Read the rest here:
The surprisingly early age our bodies begin to break down - Ladders