Frailty, Vulnerability, and Plasticity: Towards a New Medicine of Complexity

Abstract

There is no single way of ageing, but different types of ageotypes have been identified. Frailty is the most problematic expression of the ageing population. The understanding of the route linking ageing, frailty and 2nd order criticalities open new and intriguing operational perspectives. Indeed, frailty might be reversible or attenuated by interventions put in place to avoid its evolution over time. This is most true when traditional therapeutic approaches are combined with the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Not only the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy (EIP-AHA) is actively involved in the promotion of healthy and active ageing, but a more aware geriatric culture toward a new medicine of complexity is spreading. The fight against frailty takes place in a lifespan and multisystemic perspective. Indeed, every individual is a dynamic, interacting, adaptable system in which the disease triggers a cause-and-effect model that cannot be considered linear. Frailty in the elderly requires therefore a customized multidimensional approach according to the principle of “taking care of the patient and not only of the disease”. A bio-psycho-social model can help us to define the most appropriate interventions to promote health in terms of the best possible quality of life.