Aging and Frailty: An Update about Prevention and Treatments

Dear Colleagues,

Aging is commonly defined as the accumulation of diverse deleterious changes occurring in cells and tissues with advancing age that are responsible for the increased risk of frailty and death. The immediate consequence of extended life expectancy is represented by the increasing number of older people in developed countries. Between 2015 and 2050, the worldwide population is expected to increase from 900 million to two billion people over the age of 60 years.

Older adults may experience reduced mobility, chronic pain, dementia, or other health problems, or experience events such as bereavement, or a drop in socioeconomic status with retirement. All of these factors can result in dependence, isolation, loneliness, or psychological distress, for which they may require long-term care increasing the social costs.

Several steps toward understanding the aging process and frailty have been taken, but further studies are still needed. In particular, it is important to clarify to which extent and at which price the frailty can be limited or reversed. The biogerontologists have emphasized that the goal of research on ageing and frailty is not to increase human longevity regardless of the consequences but to increase active longevity free from disability and functional dependence.

The central focus of this Special Issue will be to present novel results about the new diagnosis criteria, the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, and potential prevention options.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Current nutritional and pharmacological interventions
• Caregiver burden
• Factors associated with transitions to care facilities
• Non-drug strategies (music therapy, pet therapy, occupational therapy, exercise, carer training, regular social activity, etc.)
• Cognitive and functional rehabilitation
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and social robots

Dr. Grazia D'Onofrio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medical Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• aging
• frailty
• reduced mobility
• chronic pain
• elderly
• bopgerpmtpñpgosts
• longevity
• disability
• diagnosis criteria
• prevention
• pharmacology options