The Lancet appoints Juulia Jylhävä to a Commission developing solutions for the prevention and management of frailty
Frailty poses a major public health challenge, significantly affecting not only those living with the condition but also their families, healthcare systems and social support services. Depending on the criteria used, frailty affects between 12% and 24% of people aged 65 and over.
Clinically, frailty is characterised as a state of vulnerability resulting from progressive declines in physiological reserves across multiple organ systems. Even a minor stressor can lead to a rapid decline in the health of those affected. Consequently, older adults with frailty are frequent users of health and social care services and face increased risks of adverse outcomes, including falls, loss of independence, reduced quality of life and higher mortality.
Nevertheless, our understanding of frailty remains limited. To address the knowledge gaps that hinder the development of prevention strategies and the delivery of appropriate support, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet has established a new Commission. The Commission will generate new insights into the causal pathways and life-course factors contributing to frailty, improve early detection and diagnosis, and identify optimal management strategies for the condition. It will also develop policy recommendations to support the redesign of national public health strategies to better accommodate the needs of those living with frailty. In addition, the Commission will develop policy recommendations to support the redesign of national public health strategies to accommodate frailty.
Among the distinguished members of this multidisciplinary Commission is Senior Research Fellow Juulia Jylhävä, who leads the Systems Biology of Aging research group at Tampere University. She looks forward to collaborating with leading scientists worldwide to pave the way for new avenues of scientific inquiry and health system reforms.
“One of the Commission’s key goals is to develop clinical guidelines for the early detection of individuals at high risk of developing frailty as they age. Once health deficits and other challenges have accumulated, it becomes difficult to halt the progression of frailty. At that point, achieving meaningful impact either for the individual or for public health is no longer feasible”, says Jylhävä.
She notes that Finland’s population pyramid will present challenges for the implementation of the Commission’s findings. The ageing population will place increasing demands on healthcare and social services – and the frailer people are, the more services they will need. However, by gaining a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying frailty, we can address its root causes, rather than merely treating its symptoms.
“The development of tools to detect frailty in clinical settings – in other words, to distinguish biological age from chronological age – holds promise not only for preventing individual health issues but also for reducing healthcare costs.”
