Frailty and Resilience Across Aging: A Holistic Approach to Elderly Care

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 353

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Henry Dunant Hospital, Athens, Greece
Interests: community based geriatrics; frailty; sarcopenia; geriatric pharmacology; preservation of autonomy and functionality
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is becoming more and more evident that when it comes to older people it is very difficult to maintain the traditional, disease-oriented, conceptual healthcare approach. The situations that may describe an older person’s condition are far more complicated. The emergence of the concepts of frailty to summarize the complex status of an older person and of resilience as a goal to attain and an outcome of aging and geriatric interventions seem more appropriate.

We are pleased to invite researchers from the field of Geriatrics, Primary Healthcare, Nursing, Policymaking, Dietetics and Physiotherapy of Healthcare management and all relevant fields that may participate in the holistic team-based approach of the frail older person in the community, at the hospital in Long-Term Care facilities to contribute valuable insights regarding a multidimensional holistic approach of frailty and resilience.

This Special Issue aims to promote best practices, highlight everyday challenges, and enable the scientific discussion of the holistic approach of older people in need of care, namely those with frailty.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: preservation of resilience across aging, models of multidisciplinary approach of frailty, management of frail patients in the community setting, nutritional specificities of frail older people, and emerging needs in Long-Term Care.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. George Soulis
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • resilience
  • holistic approach
  • frailty
  • multidisciplinary team
  • nutritional

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 473 KiB  
Article
The Role of Physical Activity and Exercise in Enhancing Resilience and Delaying Frailty in Saudi Arabia
by Abdulaziz M. Alodhialah, Ashwaq A. Almutairi and Mohammed Almutairi
Healthcare 2025, 13(12), 1461; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13121461 - 18 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Background: Frailty is a major public health concern among older adults, leading to increased morbidity and functional decline. Physical activity and psychological resilience have been identified as potential protective factors against frailty, yet their combined effects remain understudied in Saudi Arabia. Objective: This [...] Read more.
Background: Frailty is a major public health concern among older adults, leading to increased morbidity and functional decline. Physical activity and psychological resilience have been identified as potential protective factors against frailty, yet their combined effects remain understudied in Saudi Arabia. Objective: This study aimed to examine the associations between physical activity, resilience, and frailty among older adults in Riyadh. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 240 elderly participants aged 60 years and above. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), frailty was measured using the Fried Frailty Phenotype, and resilience was evaluated with the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify correlates of frailty. Results: Higher physical activity levels were significantly associated with greater resilience (r = 0.61, p = 0.002) and lower frailty (OR = 0.64, p = 0.002). Advancing age, multiple comorbidities, and poor self-rated health were positively associated with frailty, while greater grip strength was inversely associated with it (OR = 0.67, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Physical activity and resilience appear to be independently associated with reduced odds of frailty among older adults in Riyadh. These findings underscore the potential benefits of integrated physical and psychological health strategies in promoting healthy aging. However, due to the cross-sectional design, causal relationships cannot be inferred. Longitudinal and intervention-based studies are needed to further explore these associations. Full article
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