%0 Journal Article
%T The Effectiveness of Exercise Interventions for the Management of Frailty: A Systematic Review
%A Olga Theou
%A Liza Stathokostas
%A Kaitlyn P. Roland
%A Jennifer M. Jakobi
%A Christopher Patterson
%A Anthony A. Vandervoort
%A Gareth R. Jones
%J Journal of Aging Research
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.4061/2011/569194
%X This systematic review examines the effectiveness of current exercise interventions for the management of frailty. Eight electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials that identified their participants as ˇ°frailˇ± either in the title, abstract, and/or text and included exercise as an independent component of the intervention. Three of the 47 included studies utilized a validated definition of frailty to categorize participants. Emerging evidence suggests that exercise has a positive impact on some physical determinants and on all functional ability outcomes reported in this systematic review. Exercise programs that optimize the health of frail older adults seem to be different from those recommended for healthy older adults. There was a paucity of evidence to characterize the most beneficial exercise program for this population. However, multicomponent training interventions, of long duration (ˇÝ5 months), performed three times per week, for 30¨C45 minutes per session, generally had superior outcomes than other exercise programs. In conclusion, structured exercise training seems to have a positive impact on frail older adults and may be used for the management of frailty. 1. Introduction Frailty is an increasingly recognized geriatric syndrome that has a tremendous impact on the older individual, their family, and society as a whole. The terms ˇ°frailˇ± and ˇ°frailtyˇ± are often used in the literature without clear definition or criteria [1]. Frailty is a complex concept and the precise definition remains to be elucidated. However, there is broad support for the understanding that frailty is a state of vulnerability, caused by multisystem reduction, ranging in severity from mild to severe, that places the individual at increased risk of adverse health outcomes [2, 3]. The components of frailty are a mix of physiological, psychological, social, and environmental factors (e.g., sarcopenia, functional impairment, cognitive impairment, and depression). There is also a compelling need for effective interventions that manage frailty symptoms and as such, exercise may be the best medicine for this population. Even though numerous operational (clinical) definitions of frailty were proposed to help develop screening criteria, there is not yet a standardized and valid method of clinically screening for frailty [4]. The most commonly used definitions of frailty are the frailty phenotype [5], the frailty index [6], the classification of frailty and vigorousness [7], and the Edmonton frail scale [8]. Fried et al. [5] proposed five indicators of
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2011/569194/