Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2016

Sarcopenia and Frailty are two age-related syndromes. Both of them in their uniqueness are related with negative outcomes for the individual – in physical and mental aspect. Through the daily clinical practice, many health professionals encounter a provocative resemblance between the two –undeniably- geriatric syndromes. But the essence of the question that is set to be answered is if it’s so important to discriminate between those two syndromes, since they share several common features. Following there is a description of the fundamental characteristics of the syndromes - “building” a certain phenotype, and a series of related evaluations for the identification of these characteristics. The segregation between the two syndromes might be difficult to be understood but the attempt for perceiving the concept of sarcopenia and frailty is the keystone for a substantial diagnosis and a successfully designed therapeutic approach.

The incidence of falls is increasing proportionally with age and is related with high rates of disability and frailty. Falls are considered the leading cause of death in the elderly and are often multifactorial in origin. They are also linked with older adults losing their confidence and independency. Furthermore they are associated with increased funding spent for hospital extended stays, carer time and absence from work. Taking into account that the population is ageing, thus the number of people older than 65 will increase considerably in the near future, it is easy to understand that costs are really likely to increase further. It is therefore important to address that problem and instead of focusing especially on treatment to concentrate on prevention as well.