Y.C. Foong, N. Chherawala, D. Aitken et al.

J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2015 Oct 15. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12065. [Epub ahead of print]

The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between accelerometer-determined physical activity (PA), muscle mass, and lower-limb strength in community-dwelling older adults.
Using accelerometer technology, both the amount and intensity of accelerometer-determined PA had an independent, dose-response relationship with lean mass percentage and lower limb strength, with the largest effect for vigorous activity. Time spent in sedentary activity was negatively associated with lean mass percentage, but was not associated with lower limb strength. The magnitude of the association between PA and lean mass percentage decreased with age.

R.D. Piovezan, J. Abucham, R.V. Dos Santos et al.

Ageing Res Rev. 2015 Sep;23(Pt B):210-20
Reductions in duration and quality of sleep and increases in prevalence of circadian rhythm and sleep disorders with age favor proteolysis, modify body composition and increase the risk of insulin resistance, all of which have been associated with sarcopenia.

Therapeutic approaches targeting sleep disturbances to normalize circadian rhythms and sleep homeostasis may represent a novel strategy to preserve or recover muscle health in older adults.

F.J. Tarazona-Santabalbina, M.C. Gómez-Cabrera, P. Pérez-Ros et al.

J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2016 May 1;17(5):426-33

The aim of this study is to ascertain if a supervised-facility multicomponent exercise program (MEP) when performed by frail older persons can reverse frailty and improve functionality; cognitive, emotional, and social networking; as well as biological biomarkers of frailty, when compared with a controlled population that received no training.
Authors reported that in3 1.4% (95% CI 20.3-45.0) of the intervention group, frailty was reversed after the exercise training program, whereas no one in the control group reversed frailty after the 6-month period.

Q.L. Xue , J. Tian , L.P. Fried et al.

Am J Epidemiol. 2016 May 5. pii: kwv272. [Epub ahead of print]
Different phenotypes have increasingly been used as tools for clinical characterization of frailty among older adults. Although there have been studies about the comparability and effectiveness of various simplifications and approximations of existing frailty phenotypes for risk prediction, there have been no studies in which investigators evaluated the stability of the clinical characterization achieved.
Findings obtained shown that it was no merely the number of criteria used to characterize the PFPs but rather the specific criteria combinations that predicted the risk of adverse outcomes. There are clinically important contexts in which simplified PFPs cannot be used interchangeably.

S. Freitag and S. Schmidt

Soc Sci Med. 2016 May 14;160:120-127. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.023. [Epub ahead of print]
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a biographical disclosure intervention on psychological frailty and health in older adults.
The results of the intervention indicate a short-term positive effect on frailty and mental health in elderly people, who benefitted from the disclosure intervention in terms of improved mental health and lower frailty levels.

M.J. Mohler, C.S. Wendel , R.E. Taylor-Piliae et al.

Gerontology. 2016 Apr 30. [Epub ahead of print]

This study aimed to evaluate wearable sensor-based measures of gait, balance, and physical activity that are predictive of future falls in community-dwelling older adults.
Results obtained suggests that independent predictors of falls are dependent on frailty status. Among sensor-derived parameters, balance deficit, longer typical walking episodes, and shorter typical standing episodes were the most sensitive predictors of prospective falls in the combined pre-frail and frail sample. Gait deficit was not a sensitive fall predictor in the context of frailty status.