title: Frailty: a common pathway in aging and cancer.
abstract: The construct of frailty is germane to that of aging, but a clinical definition of frailty is still wanted. In the geriatric literature, frailty has been conceived in two different ways. The first one is a threshold beyond which the functional reserve of a person is critically reduced and the tolerance of stress negligible. The second is as a progressive reduction of functional reserve due to a progressive accumulation of deficit. In this construct it may be hard to distinguish frailty from aging. Neither concept has at present a clear application in the management of older cancer patients. Studies are needed to establish whether the construct of frailty proposed by Fried et al. may be predictive of decreased cancer-independent survival and of decreased treatment tolerance in older cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Senior Adult Oncology Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA. lodovico.balducci@moffitt.org
authors.forename: Lodovico
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balducci
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D009626:Terminology as Topic