衰弱與心臟血管疾病

Frailty and Cardiovascular Disease

衰弱及心臟血管疾病，為健康老化重要的威脅之一。衰弱指的是身體儲存能量或抗壓力下降，無法有效因應外在壓力源，而對健康產生不良結果。心臟血管疾病則泛指冠狀動脈心臟病、週邊動脈疾病、缺血型腦血管疾病以及主動脈粥狀硬化以及胸、腹主動脈瘤等。越來越多研究指出，衰弱與心臟血管疾病有著共同的病理機轉，主要以神經-內分泌失調、慢性炎症反應以及凝血路徑-促血栓狀態三個呈現。

Frailty is an overarching geriatric syndrome characterized by decreased reserves to against stressors that gives rise to vulnerability. Frailty and cardiovascular disease (CVD) often existed concurrently. Although these two concepts are distinct, considerable overlaps in the pathophysiological mechanism of these two conditions remained. In fact, CVD may accelerate the development of frailty and frailty maybe masked by the signs and symptoms of CVD. The risk and death rate of invasive treatments in these patients tend to be underestimated. In this article, we briefly review frailty in patients with cardiovascular disease including its definition, prevalence, common pathophysiological pathway, and impact. We hope by increasing the awareness among professionals, early detection and timely intervention could be developed and tested to improve care and decrease adverse outcome for this fast growing population.