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Functional Reserve Assessment

Meaning

Functional Reserve Assessment is a clinical evaluation strategy that measures the remaining capacity of an organ system or the entire organism to respond to acute physiological stress or disease without experiencing failure. This assessment moves beyond simple pathology detection to quantify the margin of safety within critical systems, such as the cardiovascular, endocrine, or musculoskeletal systems. A diminished functional reserve is a hallmark of biological aging and increased frailty, making its quantification a powerful predictor of healthspan and resilience. It offers a precise metric for determining true physiological robustness.