Dr. Dae Hyun Kim Named to Lancet Commission on Frailty

Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD, has joined a new Lancet Commission on Frailty, as part of an effort by one of the world’s most influential peer-reviewed medical journals to globally reorient frailty in clinical practice, public health, and policy.

An associate director and senior scientist at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Dr. Kim joins 20 other global experts to bring a multidisciplinary perspective to developing strategies that can be adapted to populations with disparities in access to care.

Dr. Kim is a Paul B. Beeson Fellow, funded by the National Institute on Aging, the American Federation for Aging Research, and the John A. Hartford Foundation. He is also an associate editor of the Journals of Gerontology Medical Sciences and serves on the American Geriatrics Society research methods subcommittee and the editorial board of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Frailty is a medical condition that results from progressive declines in physiological reserves across multiple organ systems, and can include weakness, fatigue, delirium, and an increased likelihood for falls. It affects between 12 and 24% of the general population aged 65 and older. According to The Lancet, “Older adults living with frailty are intensive users of health and social care resources, and are susceptible to an array of adverse outcomes, including falls, loss of independence, lower quality of life and mortality.”

While a significant percentage of older adults suffer from frailty, the condition can be prevented or delayed.

Building on The Lancet’s 2019 series and 2013 seminar on frailty, this new commission will focus on four main pillars:

1. Establish frailty as a recognized and actionable target for prevention and treatment and to advance understanding of frailty and life-course factors to prevent or delay its onset and progression.
2. Expand knowledge on early detection and diagnosis of frailty from a public health perspective. The Commission will also develop a diagnostic framework to help standardize screening and assessment tools.
3. Generate new insights into optimal management of older adults living with frailty, including how to proactively tailor interventions before known stressors, such as elective surgery.
4. Develop recommendations for national public health strategy reform, including frailty, to augment global initiatives, including the U.N.’s Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-30) and WHO’s World Report on Ageing and Health.

“The members of the Lancet Commission bring important and necessary expertise and insight across multidisciplinary fields. Our work will help new strategies that can be adapted to populations with disparities in access to care, including those residing in low- and middle-income countries, culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and rural-dwelling populations,” said Dr. Kim.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 4,500 seniors a day across campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; Jack Satter House, Revere; and Leyland Community, Dorchester. Founded in 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $98 million, making it one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 500 geriatric care providers each year. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn.