Elsevier

Medical Clinics of North America

Volume 83, Issue 5, 1 September 1999, Pages 1173-1194
Medical Clinics of North America

FRAILTY AND THE OLDER MAN

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-7125(05)70157-7Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open archive

Frailty has been defined by some as a wasting syndrome common in people of advanced age that is often considered by clinicians as conferring risk for morbidity and mortality. Although no standard clinical or diagnostic criteria have been firmly established, many authors who have written on the topic include weight loss, loss of lean body mass (sarcopenia), fatigue, and loss of strength or endurance as part of the syndrome.26, 30, 70, 102 A wide range of biologic, physiologic, social, and environmental bases for this disorder has been postulated, including both processes resulting from specific diseases and age-related physiologic changes that are not due to disease.51, 63 Many of these models and definitions have considered gender differences in the presentation or the cause of frailty, perhaps because of the daunting complexity of clearly defining this age-related condition in either gender. This article summarizes definitions, research, and potential causes of the syndrome and considers the evidence for the gender differences in epidemiology and causes of frailty, including the gender-specific physiologic basis that may influence the development of the syndrome of frailty in men.

Cited by (0)

Address reprint requests to Jeremy Walston, MD, The Johns Hopkins Geriatrics Center, 5505 Bayview Circle, Baltimore, MD 21224, e-mail: [email protected]