Frailty - From concept to clinical practice.

Frailty has emerged as a true geriatric syndrome with increasing interest for both basic scientist as well as clinicians. The conceptual frame of a decreased resistance to internal and external stressors shows - when speaking of physical frailty - substantial overlaps to primary sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass. Consensus for the definition of frailty and sarcopenia is rapidly increasing and ease the path for a common understanding of these syndromes with high impact on functionality, independence and thereby quality of life of older adults. Ageing per se has long been thought to be unalterable and being the major cause for most chronic diseases and frailty. Significant increases in the understanding of cellular senescence now challenge this. Interventions may delay age-related conditions and thus compressing late-life morbidity with positive consequences for public health. Besides pharmacological interventions, lifestyle choices including diet and physical activity can optimize the biology of ageing and extend healthy life span.