Current issues about frailty in the elderly and physical exercise

Frailty in the elderly is associated with several negative health outcomes in this population. However, lack of consensus among experts with regard to its etiology, definition, and operational features makes difficult the pro-gress in research area and its clinical implications. Moreover, one of the most frequently feature associated with frailty is physical inactivity. In despite of this, influence of physical exercise on frailty development and evolution is unknown. The purpose of this review study is to discuss 1) the main points of debate regarding etiology and definition of frailty, the criteria of classification for frail elders, as well as 2) the role played by physical exercise in this debate. By several kinds of search and selection, articles in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English were selected. In general, they were published between 2002 and January 2008. Based on currently scientific evidence, frailty advances (provided by genetical, physiological and nutritional areas, as well as by researches on functional limitations/disability and co-morbidities) and obstacles for research and clinical areas are exposed and discussed. The influence of physical exercise in preventing or delaying frailty, as well as in stopping or reversing its negative effects, was not confirmed, specially because research absence in this field.