Sarcopenia assessment project in the nursing homes in Turkey

Abstract

Both sarcopenia and SO were prevalent among Turkish nursing home elderly residents. Most of the patients with sarcopenia were obese or overweight. We showed that diagnosing sarcopenia with CC measurement underestimated the sarcopenia prevalence assessed by handgrip strength. So we concluded that, although different assessment methods are recommended for the diagnosis of sarcopenia local disparities should be considered.

Prevalence and risk factors of sarcopenia in elderly nursing home residents

“…In this study a higher prevalence of sarcopenia was found in men than women [11]. Testosterone is a hormone, which increases protein synthesis in muscles; however, this effect is influenced by genetics, nutrition and exercise.…”

“…In a Turkish study by Bahat et al, the FFM of 157 male nursing home residents were compared to a young adults; FFM of two standard deviations below normal were considered sarcopenic, resulting in a prevalence of 85% [10]. Halil et al conducted a study including 711 patients from 14 nursing homes and determined the overall sarcopenia rate to be 68% based on calf circumference, with a secondary sarcopenia rate of 22% in obese patients [11]. In a study of nursing home residents in Holland aged 50 years or older, the prevalence of sarcopenia was 14.3% overall and 17.4% in those 65 years or older [12].…”

Muscle function-dependent sarcopenia and cut-off values of possible predictors in community-dwelling Turkish elderly: calf circumference, midarm muscle circumference and walking speed

“…In addition, age-related reduction in muscle mass may lead age group-related alterations. The unique study, which was conducted by Halil et al 5 in our elderly population living in nursing homes, provides the CC cut-off as 35 cm, but it is neither gender nor age group specific; hence, it is difficult to compare with our results. The cross-sectional character of our study may be considered as a limitation.…”

“…Researchers used different methods and existing reports depend on the data of the elderly living in nursing homes. In a report by Halil et al 5 the muscle function-dependent sarcopenia (determined by body mass index (BMI) adjusted HGS) was 68% in the Turkish elderly living in nursing homes. Bahat et al 6 reported the prevalence of sarcopenia as 85.4% in male elderly individuals living in a nursing home, which was assessed by muscle mass detected with bioimpedance.…”

Calf circumference: clinical validation for evaluation of muscle mass in the elderly

“…Among them, calf circumference (CC) (19) has been used in recent studies with the objective of measuring muscle mass and estimating the prevalence of sarcopenia (20)(21)(22) , predicting disability (23)(24) , mortality (24)(25) and need for care (26) , as well as for determining cut-off points of decreased muscle mass in the elderly population (27)(28)(29)(30)(31) .…”