Frailty as Cardiovascular Risk Factor (and Vice Versa)

Abstract

The prevalence of frailty seems to be higher in people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to those without, but also the prevalence of CVD is higher in people with frailty compared to robust ones. In longitudinal studies and meta-analyses dealing with the role of frailty as potential risk factor for incident CVD, we have an increasing literature suggesting that frailty increases the risk of these conditions, particularly of fatal events, and independently from several potential confounding factors. Among the domains usually included in the definition of physical frailty, exhaustion, low physical activity, slow gait speed and weakness are significantly associated with the onset of CVD in older people. However, also CVD can be considered as potential risk factor for incident frailty even if the literature is more limited. In this chapter, I will therefore report and discuss the most recent and relevant findings in this topic, of extreme importance in actual geriatric medicine. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.