Heart rate variability: A biomarker of frailty in older adults?
Flávia Sousa Arantes, Vinícius Rosa Oliveira, Aime Karla Moraes Leão, João Pedro Ribeiro Afonso, Adriano L. Fonseca, Daniela Rosana Pedro Fonseca, Diego Antonio C. Pina Gomes Mello, Ivan Peres Costa, Luiz Vicente Franco Oliveira, Renata Kelly da Palma
Abstract
Frailty is a state of critical loss of physiological complexity resulting in greater vulnerability to stressors and has been characterized as a debility syndrome in the older adult. Changes in functional capacity and the cardiovascular system during aging are the most significant and relevant for this population, including the clinically healthy. In this sense, this review aims to investigate methods to monitor the performance of older adults, such as heart rate variability and verify how it can be related to frailty. It contributes to understanding that the changes in heart variability can be a marker for frailty in older adults.