The impact of physical activity and sedentary behaviors on frailty levels.

Review written by Dr Mariana Wingood info

Key Points

  1. Almost half the older adult population in the United States is considered pre-frail and about 10% are considered frail.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Frailty is a state of increased vulnerability resulting from a decline in reserve and function across multiple physiologic systems (1). This places an individual at increased risk of health-related consequences such as disability, institutionalization, and mortality (2-4). In the United States, almost half the older adults are considered pre-frail and about 10% of them are considered frail (5). The prevalence and consequences of frailty highlight the need to implement evidence-based assessments and interventions. To deepen the knowledge about the relationship between physical activity, frailty and mortality, the authors of this article identified the need to:

  1. Review epidemiological and interventional studies which examine the relationship between physical activity and sedentary behaviors within various levels of frailty.
  2. Use national data (NHANES) to describe the movement patterns by levels of frailty.
  3. Use national data to examine the association between sedentary time accumulation patterns and mortality risk.

Frailty is a state of increased vulnerability resulting from a decline in reserve and function across multiple physiologic systems.
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A great place to start is to break up the bouts of sedentary time and decrease the amount of time being sedentary.

METHODS

Since one of the primary interventions that prevent and reverse levels of frailty is physical activity (PA), it is important to be able to evaluate an individual’s level of PA. See Box 1 for the PA and frailty scales used

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