Abstract
Aging is characterized by the decline and deterioration of functional cells and results in a wide variety of molecular damages and reduced physical and mental capacity. The knowledge on aging process is important because life expectancy is expected to rise until 2050. Aging cannot be considered a homogeneous process and includes different trajectories characterized by states of fitness, frailty, and disability. Frailty is a dynamic condition put between a normal functional state and disability, with reduced capacity to cope with stressors. This geriatric syndrome affects physical, neuropsychological, and social domains and is driven by emotional and spiritual components. Sarcopenia is considered one of the determinants and the biological substrates of physical frailty. Physical and cognitive frailty are separately approached during daily clinical practice. The concept of motoric cognitive syndrome has partially changed this scenario, opening interesting windows toward future approaches. Thus, the purpose of this manuscript is to provide an excursus on current clinical practice, enforced by aneddoctical cases. The analysis of the current state of the art seems to support the urgent need of comprehensive organizational model incorporating physical and cognitive spheres in the same umbrella.
Highlights
The term aging defines the changes occurring during an organisms’ life
We can observe adverse clinical outcomes linked to physical and cognitive components of frailty [dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD)]
A project consisting in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and named SPRINTT tested the effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention (MCI) in older persons with physical frailty and sarcopenia (Landi et al, 2017)
Summary
The term aging defines the changes occurring during an organisms’ life (da Costa et al, 2016). Cognitive impairment is more frequently detected in physically frail patients In this specific category, we can observe adverse clinical outcomes linked to physical (functional independence, hospitalization, and risk of death) and cognitive components of frailty [dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD)]. Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are among the most important risk factors for disability and dementia Several chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension accelerate the onset and progression of motoric disability and cognitive impairment. All this information implies that physical exercise can exert a protective action against muscle loss and dementia acting on modulation of endothelial function and cross-talk molecules of the so-called “brain–muscle axis” (Yan et al, 2020) (Figure 2). In institutionalized older adults with dementia and cognitive impairment, multicomponent
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