Table 1.

Study findings of the effect of physical exercise interventions on physical function in older people across frailty status.

Author, year	Sample	Intervention	Main findings
Fiatarone et al., 1994 [246]	100 older adults Frail 72-98 year-olds Nursing home	10 weeks MCI (3 types: ET, multinutrient supplementation, or both (group B))	•ET improved muscle strength •All training methods improved gait speed and muscle mass and both declined in non-exercisers •Stair climbers power improve vs non exercisers •The group B gained weight compared with ET or multinutrient group
Pahor et al., 2006 [247]	424 older adults SPPB ≤ 9 70-89 year-olds Community dwellers	24 weeks MCI (aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility)	•Improved SPPB and 400 m test vs control
Cameron et al., 2013 [248]	216 older adults Frail (Fried phenotype) ≥70 year-olds Community dwellers	12 months multifactorial individually according the Fried criteria met: If weight loss, a dietician evaluated nutritional intake If exhaustion and Geriatric Depression Scale score was high, study team considered referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist If weakness, slowness or low energy expenditure, patient received 10 home-based physiotherapy sessions	•Intervention improved SPPB vs control •Intervention significantly decreased frailty at 12 months but not at 3
Cadore et al., 2014 [249]	24 older adults Frail and prefrail (Fried phenotype) ≥90 year-olds Nursing home	12 weeks MCI (muscle power training, balance and gait retrain)	•Intervention improved TUG with single and dual tasks, rise from a chair, balance performance, and reduced incidence of falls. •Intervention enhanced muscle power and strength
Pahor et al., 2014 [21]	818 older adults 70 - 89 year-olds Community-dwellers	•Structured, moderate-intensity physical activity program conducted in a centre (twice/wk) and at home (3–4 times/wk): aerobic, resistance, and flexibility training activities. •Or a health education program: workshops on topics relevant to older adults and upper extremity stretching exercises	•Reduced major mobility disability over 2.6 years among older adults at risk for disability vs health education program
Kwon et al., 2015 [250]	89 older adults Prefrail (Fried criteria, although considered frail if met 2 criteria at the time of enrolment) 65–91 year-olds Community-dwellers	12 weeks. Three groups: one MCI (Warm-up, strength training, balance training and cool-down), MCI plus nutritional program (cooking class) (MCI-NP); and control	•MCI improve handgrip strength, but effect was not maintained at 6-month postintervention •MCI-NP and control did not obtained significant changes in measures of physical performance. However, handgrip strength declined postintervention and follow-up in the MCI-NP group
Tarazona-Santabalbina et al., 2016 [251]	100 frail subjects (Fried phenotype) ≥70 year-olds Community-dwellers	•MCI (proprioception, aerobic, strength, and stretching exercises for 65 min, 5 days per week, 24 weeks). •Control group	•Reverses frailty and improves functional measurements: Barthel, Lawton and Brody, Tinetti, Short Physical Performance Battery and physical performance •Improves cognitive, emotional, and social networking determinations: Mini-Mental State Examination, geriatric depression scale from Yesavage, EuroQol quality-of-life scale •Decreases the number of visits to primary care physician •Significant improvement in frailty biomarkers. Vs control group
Losa-Reyna et al., 2019 [252]	20 frail and prefrail (Fried phenotype) 77.2–95.8 year-olds Community-dwellers	•Six weeks MCI (Power training and HIIT) •Usual care	•Reduction Frailty Phenotype •Improvements in SPPB, muscle power, muscle strength and aerobic capacity vs control group
Martínez-Velilla et al., 2019 [253]	370 older adults >75 year-olds Acute care hospitalization	•In-hospital MCI included individualized moderate-intensity resistance, balance, and walking exercises (2 daily sessions) •Usual care	•Increased the SPPB scale and Barthel Index score over the usual-care group •Reversed functional decline •Significant intervention benefits at the cognitive level over the usual-care group
Rodríguez-Mañas et al. et al., 2019 [22]	964 prefrail and frail older adults (Fried phenotype) with type 2 diabetes >70 year-olds Community-dwellers	•Multimodal intervention individualized and progressive resistance exercise programme for 16 weeks plus a nutritional educational program over seven sessions plus Investigator-standardized training to ensure optimal diabetes care •Usual care	•After 12 months: Improvement in SPPB scores vs usual care •Cost-effective improvement in the functional status of older frail and prefrail participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Vs usual care
Yu et al., 2019 [254]	127 prefrail subjects (FRAIL scale) ≥50 year-olds Community- dwellers	•12-week MCI (resistance and aerobic exercises, cognitive training, board game activities) •Wait-list control group	•Reduction in the combined frailty score •Improvements in muscle endurance, balance, verbal fluency, attention and memory, executive function, and self-rated health vs control group

ET: Exercise Training; HIIT: High Interval Intensity Training; MCI: Multicomponent Intervention; MCI-NP: Multicomponent Intervention plus Nutritional Program; SPPB: Short Physical Performance Battery; TUG: Timed Up and Go.