Prevalence of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older people in the UK using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) definition: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS)

Abstract

Introduction: sarcopenia is associated with adverse health outcomes. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older people in the UK using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) consensus definition.Methods: we applied the EWGSOP definition to 103 community-dwelling men participating in the Hertfordshire Sarcopenia Study (HSS) using both the lowest third of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) lean mass (LM) and the lowest third of skin-fold-based fat-free mass (FFM) as markers of low muscle mass. We also used the FFM approach among 765 male and 1,022 female participants in the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS). Body size, physical performance and self-reported health were compared in participants with and without sarcopenia.Results: the prevalence of sarcopenia in HSS men (mean age 73 years) was 6.8% and 7.8% when using the lowest third of DXA LM and FFM, respectively. DXA LM and FFM were highly correlated (0.91, P < 0.001). The prevalence of sarcopenia among the HCS men and women (mean age 67 years) was 4.6% and 7.9%, respectively. HSS and HCS participants with sarcopenia were shorter, weighed less and had worse physical performance. HCS men and women with sarcopenia had poorer self-reported general health and physical functioning scores.Conclusions: this is one of the first studies to describe the prevalence of sarcopenia in UK community-dwelling older people. The EWGSOP consensus definition was of practical use for sarcopenia case finding. The next step is to use this consensus definition in other ageing cohorts and among older people in a range of health-care settings.

Sex-specific differences in risk factors for sarcopenia amongst community-dwelling older adults

“…Epidemiological data for discordance in sarcopenia prevalence between older men and women have been conflicting (Landi et al 2012;Patel et al 2013;Lee et al 2013). Several studies had suggested differential sexspecific rate of absolute muscle loss, being greater in men than in women, which could not be attributed merely to the larger initial muscle mass in men (Payette et al 2003).…”

Augmentation of Musculoskeletal Regeneration: Role for Pluripotent Stem Cells

“…• 4.6% of men and 7.9% of women with a mean age of 67 in an English cohort study were diagnosed with sarcopenia [25] • Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects 1 in 3500 males worldwide [34] Resistance exercise [35] Corticosteroids [36] Genetic interventions [37] Poor adherence, difficulty to carry out without assistance due to inherent frailty of sufferers Delays symptoms only, multiple known severe side effects [36] Large organ to treat. Need to target skeletal and cardiac muscle.…”

“…A common myopathy is sarcopenia [25] (age-related loss of muscle mass and strength); a disease associated with frailty and has a high incidence in the older population (Table 1). There are also numerous genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophies (MD) [26], for example, Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD), and limb girdle MD.…”

A sarcopenia prevalenciája, valamint az egészség- és életmódbeli tényezőkkel való kapcsolata a tartós ellátást nyújtó intézményekben élő idősek körében

“…Kutatá-sunk az elsőnek nem, csak az utóbbinak a preventív hatására mutatott rá. A prevalenciában jelentős különbségek vannak az egyes kutatások eredményei között: az Egyesült Király-ságban 7,8%-os prevalenciát becsültek [16]. Brazil, japán és koreai populációban 12-22% között mozgott a kimutatott gyakorisági adat [18,31,32].…”

“…A hatékony intézkedések megtervezéséhez a sarcopenia patomechanizmusa mellett a sarcopeniával kapcsolatban álló, azt befolyásoló életmódbeli tényezők ismerete is szükséges. A korábbi kutatások otthon élő idősek körében vizsgál-ták a sarcopenia prevalenciáját, valamint azt, hogy az egészség-és életmódbeli tényezők hogyan függnek ösz-sze a sarcopenia gyakoriságával [8,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Eddig azonban azt nem vizsgálták, hogy a tartós ellátást nyújtó idősotthonban élőknél van-e összefüggés a fenti ténye-zők és a sarcopenia előfordulása között.…”