Motherhood may reduce late-life frailty rather than raise it, companion dog model suggests

Frailty threatens older individuals because it increases their vulnerability to detrimental health outcomes, such as falls, longer hospitalizations or even shortened life expectancy.

Biogerontologists are actively exploring a potential health trade-off important to mothers: Whether the production of offspring comes at a maternal cost as a consequence of a diversion of physiological resources that could lead to accelerated aging and increased late-life frailty. ...