title: The biology of aging and frailty.
abstract: In developing and validating the concept of frailty as a geriatric syndrome, it has been necessary to distinguish the clinical expression of frailty from normal age-related changes and other age-related disease pathologies. A framework for excluding potentially confounding disease and a working clinical tool to diagnose frailty have been provided. The associations between frailty and other pathophysiologies has also been shown. However, investigating the underlying biologic basis for the geriatric syndrome of frailty by studying basic homeostatic pathways and mechanisms has not proceeded at the same rate. The following article provides an overview of the homeostatic pathways emphasized in research on aging and explains how this science may help to stimulate frailty research.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. ndarko@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Neal S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Fedarko
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001695:Biology; D016330:Frail Elderly; D005853:Geriatrics; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D013577:Syndrome