Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1216:1-7. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-33330-0_1.
Over the past decades, a progressive and exponential aging of the population has been observed. In particular, an absolute e relative increase of old and very old persons is also projected for the next 30 years. This demographic phenomenon is substantially responsible for the growing prevalence of frailty in our societies. Frailty is a clinical condition characterized by an excessive vulnerability of the individual to endogenous and exogenous stressors. This status generates a high risk of developing negative health-related events. Shifting to a construct as frailty to biologically define the perimeter of action for geriatric medicine will probably concur at modernizing the old way of practicing medicine. In this chapter the concept of frailty, its impact on the evolving healthcare systems, the controversies associated with its assessment and, ultimately, the role it plays in the management of older persons are discussed.
在过去的几十年中，人们观察到人口老龄化呈渐进式和指数式增长。特别是，预计未来 30 年，老年人和非常老年人的绝对和相对数量将会增加。这种人口现象是导致我们社会中衰弱现象日益普遍的主要原因。衰弱是一种临床状况，其特征是个体对内源性和外源性应激源的过度脆弱性。这种状态会产生发生负面健康相关事件的高风险。将衰弱这一概念转变为生物学上定义老年医学行动范围的一种方式，可能有助于使老年医学的传统实践方式现代化。在本章中，讨论了衰弱的概念、它对不断发展的医疗保健系统的影响、与其评估相关的争议，以及它在老年人管理中的作用。
