Table 3.

Potential interventions for sarcopenia and frailty

Intervention	Pros	Cons
Exercise	Resistance or aerobic exercise training with demonstrated benefits including improvement in physical fitness, muscle strength, and cardiovascular parameters	Low uptake and long-term participation in patients Lack of time or clinical expertise Scarce availability of equipment or appropriate training programs
Nutritional supplementation	The association between nutrition and muscle health underpins the importance of maintaining an optimal nutritional status in the prevention of sarcopenia/frailty Correct nutritional deficits and address weight loss of frailty syndrome High-quality, protein-enriched, oral nutritional supplements have been shown to be beneficial	Up to 40% of older adults do not meet the recommended target Inconsistent adherence
Pharmacological treatment •Vitamin D supplement •Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors •Oral alkali supplements to correct metabolic acidosis •Testosterone	Existing pharmacological agents with favorable safety profiles including vitamin D, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and oral alkali supplements	Small number of participants in clinical studies and questionable utility in the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia and frailty Undesirable adverse events (e.g., testosterone is associated with cardiovascular adverse effects)
Psychosocial support / health education / multidisciplinary intervention	Modifiable risk factors including alcohol and smoking cessation, increase physical activity and psychosocial support	Patient choice (poor adherence) Scarce resources or lack of access to psychosocial support