Theou Olga, Jones Gareth R, Overend Tom J, Kloseck Marita, Vandervoort Anthony A
Graduate Program in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2008 Aug;33(4):651-65. doi: 10.1139/H08-058.
Frailty is increasingly recognized as a geriatric syndrome that shares common biomedical determinants with rapid muscle fatigue: aging, disease, inflammation, physical inactivity, malnutrition, hormone deficiencies, subjective fatigue, and changes in neuromuscular function and structure. In addition, there is an established relationship between muscle fatigue and core elements of the cycle of frailty as proposed by Fried and colleagues (sarcopenia, neuroendocrine dysregulation and immunologic dysfunction, muscle weakness, subjective fatigue, reduced physical activity, low gait speed, and weight loss). These relationships suggest that frailty and muscle fatigue are closely related and that low tolerance for muscular work may be an indicator of frailty phenotype.