Resilience: Biological Basis and Clinical Significance - A Perspective Report from the International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research (ICFSR) Task Force.

The Resilience is a construct receiving growing attention from the scientific community in geriatrics and gerontology. Older adults show extremely heterogeneous (and often unpredictable) responses to stressors. Such heterogeneity can (at least partly) be explained by differences in resilience (i.e., the capacity of the organism to cope with stressors). The International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research (ICFSR) Task Force met in Boston (MA,USA) on April 20, 2022 to discuss the biological and clinical significance of resilience in older adults. The identification of persons with low resilience and the prompt intervention in this at-risk population may be critical to develop and implement preventive strategies against adverse events. Unfortunately, to date, it is still challenging to capture resilience, especially due to its dynamic nature encompassing biological, clinical, subjective, and socioeconomic factors. Opportunities to dynamically measure resilience were discussed during the ICFSR Task Force meeting, emphasizing potential biomarkers and areas of intervention. This article reports the results of the meeting and may serve to support future actions in the field.
Competing Interests: The Task Force was partially funded by registration fees from industrial participants. These corporations placed no restrictions on this work. Dr. Rooks is employees of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Dr. Vellas is an investigator in clinical trials sponsored by the Toulouse University Hospital (Inspire Geroscience Program). Dr. Fielding reported grants from National Institutes of Health, grants from USDA Agricultural Research Service, grants, personal fees and other from Axcella Health, Juvicell, Inside Tracker, grants and personal fees from Biophytis, personal fees from Amazentis, Nestlé and Pfizer, outside the submitted work. No conflict of interest declared by the other authors.