HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE PHYSICAL RESILIENCE? A REVIEW OF MARKERS AND MEASURES ACROSS HUMAN STUDIES

Abstract This presentation will focus on approaches to measuring and predicting physical resilience, defined here as one’s ability to withstand or recover from functional decline following acute and/or chronic health stressors. The presentation will introduce a conceptual framework for physical resilience that addresses the characterization of clinically relevant resilient phenotypes. In our model, the spectrum from robustness to frailty reflects the amount of physiological reserve one has to react to stressors, while physical resilience refers to the actualization of that potential. For this reason, to quantify resilient phenotypes, measurements of health and function must be collected after the stressor. We will consider how favorable biology in molecular and cellular processes involved in adaptive stress response may be particularly important determinants of resilience. Finally, we will propose clinical test paradigms (e.g., stimulus-response tests, dual-tasking, and complex dynamical output monitoring) and biomarkers that may be useful in predicting resilience to common health stressors.

Duke Scholars

Author Cathleen Sellner Colon-Emeric Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care