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Journal ArticleDOI

Sarcopenia: an undiagnosed condition in older adults. Current consensus definition: prevalence, etiology, and consequences. International working group on sarcopenia.

TL;DR: Sarcopenia should be considered in all older patients who present with observed declines in physical function, strength, or overall health, and patients who meet these criteria should further undergo body composition assessment using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry with sarcopenia being defined using currently validated definitions.
About: This article is published in Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.The article was published on 2011-05-01 and is currently open access. It has received 2378 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Sarcopenia & Sarcopenic obesity.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The AWGS consensus report is believed to promote more Asian sarcopenia research, and most important of all, to focus on sarc Openia intervention studies and the implementation of sarcopenian in clinical practice to improve health care outcomes of older people in the communities and the healthcare settings in Asia.

2,976 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Prevalence of sarcopenia is substantial in most geriatric settings, and well-designed, standardised studies evaluating exercise or nutrition interventions are needed before treatment guidelines can be developed.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: to examine the clinical evidence reporting the prevalence of sarcopenia and the effect of nutrition and exercise interventions from studies using the consensus definition of sarcopenia proposed by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP).METHODS: PubMed and Dialog databases were searched (January 2000-October 2013) using pre-defined search terms. Prevalence studies and intervention studies investigating muscle mass plus strength or function outcome measures using the EWGSOP definition of sarcopenia, in well-defined populations of adults aged ≥50 years were selected.RESULTS: prevalence of sarcopenia was, with regional and age-related variations, 1-29% in community-dwelling populations, 14-33% in long-term care populations and 10% in the only acute hospital-care population examined. Moderate quality evidence suggests that exercise interventions improve muscle strength and physical performance. The results of nutrition interventions are equivocal due to the low number of studies and heterogeneous study design. Essential amino acid (EAA) supplements, including ∼2.5 g of leucine, and β-hydroxy β-methylbutyric acid (HMB) supplements, show some effects in improving muscle mass and function parameters. Protein supplements have not shown consistent benefits on muscle mass and function.CONCLUSION: prevalence of sarcopenia is substantial in most geriatric settings. Well-designed, standardised studies evaluating exercise or nutrition interventions are needed before treatment guidelines can be developed. Physicians should screen for sarcopenia in both community and geriatric settings, with diagnosis based on muscle mass and function. Supervised resistance exercise is recommended for individuals with sarcopenia. EAA (with leucine) and HMB may improve muscle outcomes.

1,415 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An agreement of basic nutritional terminology to be used in clinical practice, research, and the ESPEN guideline developments has been established and may help to support future global consensus efforts and updates of classification systems such as the International Classification of Disease.

1,294 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Some of the first estimates of the extent of the public health problem posed by sarcopenia are provided, independent of ethnicity, age, morbidity, obesity, income, and health behaviors.
Abstract: Muscle mass decreases with age, leading to "sarcopenia," or low relative muscle mass, in elderly people. Sarcopenia is believed to be associated with metabolic, physiologic, and functional impairments and disability. Methods of estimating the prevalence of sarcopenia and its associated risks in elderly populations are lacking. Data from a population-based survey of 883 elderly Hispanic and non-Hispanic white men and women living in New Mexico (the New Mexico Elder Health Survey, 1993-1995) were analyzed to develop a method for estimating the prevalence of sarcopenia. An anthropometric equation for predicting appendicular skeletal muscle mass was developed from a random subsample (n = 199) of participants and was extended to the total sample. Sarcopenia was defined as appendicular skeletal muscle mass (kg)/height2 (m2) being less than two standard deviations below the mean of a young reference group. Prevalences increased from 13-24% in persons under 70 years of age to >50% in persons over 80 years of age, and were slightly greater in Hispanics than in non-Hispanic whites. Sarcopenia was significantly associated with self-reported physical disability in both men and women, independent of ethnicity, age, morbidity, obesity, income, and health behaviors. This study provides some of the first estimates of the extent of the public health problem posed by sarcopenia.

3,478 citations


"Sarcopenia: an undiagnosed conditio..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Sarcopenia is correlated with functional decline and disability (5, 16, 71, 76, 77)....

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  • ...Subsequent studies in this population using more direct estimates found a prevalence of 12% for persons 60 to 70 years of age and nearly 30% for persons over 80 years (5, 70)....

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  • ...Subsequently, a number of authors have defined sarcopenia more specifically as a subgroup of older persons with muscle mass depletion, usually defined as being two standard deviations below the mean muscle mass of younger persons (usually age 35 years) (5)....

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  • ...aLM/Ht2 2 SD below a young reference group) was originally determined to be over 50% in persons older than 80 years (5)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Among nondisabled older persons living in the community, objective measures of lower-extremity function were highly predictive of subsequent disability.
Abstract: Background Functional assessment is an important part of the evaluation of elderly persons. We conducted this study to determine whether objective measures of physical function can predict subsequent disability in older persons. Methods This prospective cohort study included men and women 71 years of age or older who were living in the community, who reported no disability in the activities of daily living, and who reported that they were able to walk one-half mile (0.8 km) and climb stairs without assistance. The subjects completed a short battery of physical-performance tests and participated in a follow-up interview four years later. The tests included an assessment of standing balance, a timed 8-ft (2.4-m) walk at a normal pace, and a timed test of five repetitions of rising from a chair and sitting down. Results Among the 1122 subjects who were not disabled at base line and who participated in the four-year follow-up, lower scores on the base-line performance tests were associated with a statisticall...

3,388 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: To establish the prevalence of sarc Openia in older Americans and to test the hypothesis that sarcopenia is related to functional impairment and physical disability in older persons is established.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To establish the prevalence of sarcopenia in older Americans and to test the hypothesis that sarcope- nia is related to functional impairment and physical dis- ability in older persons. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Nationally representative cross-sectional sur- vey using data from the Third National Health and Nutri- tion Examination Survey (NHANES III). PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen thousand eight hundred eigh- teen adult NHANES III participants aged 18 and older. MEASUREMENTS: The presence of sarcopenia and the relationship between sarcopenia and functional impairment and disability were examined in 4,504 adults aged 60 and older. Skeletal muscle mass was estimated from bioimped- ance analysis measurements and expressed as skeletal mus- cle mass index (SMIskeletal muscle mass/body mass � 100). Subjects were considered to have a normal SMI if their SMI was greater than -one standard deviation above the sex-specific mean for young adults (aged 18-39). Class I sarcopenia was considered present in subjects whose SMI was within -one to -two standard deviations of young adult values, and class II sarcopenia was present in subjects whose SMI was below -two standard deviations of young adult values. RESULTS: The prevalence of class I and class II sarcope- nia increased from the third to sixth decades but remained relatively constant thereafter. The prevalence of class I (59% vs 45%) and class II (10% vs 7%) sarcopenia was greater in the older ( � 60 years) women than in the older men ( P � .001). The likelihood of functional impairment and disability was approximately two times greater in the older men and three times greater in the older women with class II sarcopenia than in the older men and women with a normal SMI, respectively. Some of the associations be- tween class II sarcopenia and functional impairment re- mained significant after adjustment for age, race, body mass index, health behaviors, and comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced relative skeletal muscle mass in older Americans is a common occurrence that is signifi- cantly and independently associated with functional im- pairment and disability, particularly in older women. These observations provide strong support for the prevailing view that sarcopenia may be an important and potentially re- versible cause of morbidity and mortality in older persons. J Am Geriatr Soc 50:889-896, 2002.

2,710 citations


"Sarcopenia: an undiagnosed conditio..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...Sarcopenia is correlated with functional decline and disability (5, 16, 71, 76, 77)....

    [...]

  • ...(71) using an index of lean/total mass and bioelectric impedance data from NH ANES III, found the prevalence of sarcopenia (−2SD) in persons 60 years of age and older was 7% to 10%....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Performance tests of lower extremity function accurately predict disability across diverse populations and Equations derived from models using both the summary score and the gait speed alone allow for the estimation of risk of disability in community-dwelling populations and provide valuable information for estimating sample size for clinical trials of disability prevention.
Abstract: Background. Although it has been demonstrated that physical performance measures predict incident disability in previously nondisabled older persons, the available data have not been fully developed to create usable methods for determining risk profiles in community-dwelling populations. Using several populations and different follow-up periods, this study replicates previous findings by using the Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPESE) performance battery and provides equations for the prediction of disability risk according to age, sex, and level of performance. Methods. Tests of balance, time to walk 8 ft, and time to rise from a chair 5 times were administered to 4,588 initially nondisabled persons in the four sites of the EPESE and to 1,946 initially nondisabled persons in the Hispanic EPESE. Follow-up assessment for activity of daily living (ADL) and mobility-related disability occurred from 1 to 6 years later. Results. In the EPESE, compared with those with the best performance (EPESE summary performance score of 10‐ 12), the relative risks of mobility-related disability for those with scores of 4‐6 ranged from 2.9 to 4.9 and the relative risk of disability for those with scores of 7‐9 ranged from 1.5 to 2.1, with similar consistent results for ADL disability. The observed rates of incident disability according to performance level in the Hispanic EPESE agreed closely with rates predicted from models developed from the EPESE sites. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that gait speed alone performed almost as well as the full battery in predicting incident disability. Conclusions. Performance tests of lower extremity function accurately predict disability across diverse populations. Equations derived from models using both the summary score and the gait speed alone allow for the estimation of risk of disability in community-dwelling populations and provide valuable information for estimating sample size for clinical trials of disability prevention.

2,513 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Although the loss of muscle mass is associated with the decline in strength in older adults, this strength decline is much more rapid than the concomitant loss of Muscle mass, suggesting a decline in muscle quality.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The loss of muscle mass is considered to be a major determinant of strength loss in aging. However, large-scale longitudinal studies examining the association between the loss of mass and strength in older adults are lacking. METHODS: Three-year changes in muscle mass and strength were determined in 1880 older adults in the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Knee extensor strength was measured by isokinetic dynamometry. Whole body and appendicular lean and fat mass were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and computed tomography. RESULTS: Both men and women lost strength, with men losing almost twice as much strength as women. Blacks lost about 28% more strength than did whites. Annualized rates of leg strength decline (3.4% in white men, 4.1% in black men, 2.6% in white women, and 3.0% in black women) were about three times greater than the rates of loss of leg lean mass ( approximately 1% per year). The loss of lean mass, as well as higher baseline strength, lower baseline leg lean mass, and older age, was independently associated with strength decline in both men and women. However, gain of lean mass was not accompanied by strength maintenance or gain (ss coefficients; men, -0.48 +/- 4.61, p =.92, women, -1.68 +/- 3.57, p =.64). CONCLUSIONS: Although the loss of muscle mass is associated with the decline in strength in older adults, this strength decline is much more rapid than the concomitant loss of muscle mass, suggesting a decline in muscle quality. Moreover, maintaining or gaining muscle mass does not prevent aging-associated declines in muscle strength.

2,266 citations


"Sarcopenia: an undiagnosed conditio..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The Health and Body Composition Study, a longitudinal study of more than 3,000 older (age 70 – 79 y at baseline) has demonstrated the strong association of muscle mass with strength as well as the changing quality of skeletal muscle in late life (66)....

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  • ...Higher body fatness and older age have been associated with greater intramuscular lipid and reduced muscle quality, defined as reduced strength/cross sectional area (66, 85)....

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