BMI, Body Composition, and Physical Functioning in Older Adults

Abstract

WOO, JEAN, JASON LEUNG, AND TIMOTHY KWOK. BMI, body composition, and physical functioning in older adults. Obesity. 2007;15:1886 -1894. Objective: Recent studies have emphasized the importance of muscle and fat mass in relation to age-related decline in physical function. Our objective was to determine whether BMI, as a surrogate measurement of fat mass, may be used as a measure of risk factor for physical functioning in older adults and whether body composition measurements confer any advantage over BMI. Research Methods and Procedures:Four thousand men and women Ն65 years of age living in the community, stratified by age and sex, underwent the following measurements: body composition by DXA; grip strength; and timed 6-m walk. Subjects were grouped into five categories of BMI using Asian criteria for health-related risks, and between-group differences in physical performance measures and body composition were analyzed using analysis of covariance adjusting for age, physical activity level, and presence of chronic disease. Results: Subjects in the two obese categories had a significantly greater number of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) impairments compared with the underweight and normal-weight groups. Those with BMI Ն30 kg/m 2 had the worst walking performance, and the groups with BMI in the normal and overweight range had optimal performance. Fat mass, but not appendicular muscle mass, was associated with walking speed after adjusting for BMI. Discussion: Fat mass seems to be a more important factor than appendicular muscle mass in determining walking speed in community-living older adults, even after adjusting for BMI.

Oxidative stress and frailty: A systematic review and synthesis of the best evidence

“…Finally, frail and pre-frail people are generally more obese than robust participants and obesity is highly associated with systemic OS (35). This hypothesis is also consistent with the fact that an increase in adiposity may affect muscle mass and walking ability among frail subjects (36). Clearly, future longitudinal work is required to disentangle the relationships we observed and elucidate potential pathophysiological mechanisms.…”

Parámetros funcionales y su relación con velocidad de marcha en adultos mayores de la comunidad chilenos

“…Pese a que la mayoría de los adultos mayores evaluados presentaban sobrepeso, este no pareció ser un factor relevante en la velocidad de marcha de los participantes, lo cual coincide con lo planteado por Woo, et al, quienes concluyeron que los sujetos con un índice de masa corporal mayor de 30 habían obtenido los peores resultados en cuanto a la velocidad, mientras que aquellos con peso normal o sobrepeso se mantenían dentro o por encima del rango de desempeño óptimo esperado para su edad (18 Dado que todas las personas evaluadas se valían completamente por sí solas, los resultados obtenidos en el índice de Barthel se comportaron de forma homogénea en el grupo de estudio, razón por la cual es probable que dichos resultados no hayan influido de forma significativa sobre la velocidad de marcha. Lo mismo ocurrió en el caso de la flexión plantar, ya que la mayoría de los adultos mayores exhibió rangos de movimiento dentro de los parámetros normales (19), lo cual pudo haber influido en el buen rendimiento observado, pues las velocidades de marcha normales, mayores o iguales a 1,0 m/s (como lo evidenciado en este reporte), se han relacionado con buenos niveles funcionales (20).…”

Relação entre gordura corporal, número de passos e capacidade cardiorrespiratória de mulheres na pós-menopausa

“…Woo et al 17 verificaram a influência da gordura corporal, no entanto, analisando a velocidade de caminhada de seis metros ao invés da distância percorrida como no presente estudo, em homens e mulheres com idade de 65 anos ou mais, e observaram que o grupo de pessoas com obesidade tinha velocidade média menor quando comparado ao grupo não obeso, e apresentou tempo 13% maior para concluir o teste. Angleman et al 18 , em estudo conduzido com 1030 mulheres e 888 homens com idade entre 55-74 anos, também observaram velocidade de caminhada mais lenta e prevalente em mulheres obesas em comparação com as não obesas (31,7% e 14,6%, respectivamente).…”