Friday, March 16, 2012

In Barcelona, "a remarkable prevalence of sarcopenia in the healthy elderly community, especially in females"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22323356


J Nutr Health Aging. 2012 Feb;16(2):184-7.

Prevalence of sarcopenia in healthy community-dwelling elderly in an urban area of Barcelona (Spain).

Source

Geriatric Unit. Internal Medicine, Clinical Institute of Medicine and Dermatology, Hospital Clínic, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. fmasanes@clinic.ub.es

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia in a cohort of healthy community-dwelling elderly in an urban area in Barcelona (Spain) for native benchmarks and compare them with those published in other geographical areas.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

We prospectively evaluated a series of 200 healthy elderly in the community with preserved functional capacity and absence of cognitive impairment. We performed a comprehensive geriatric assessment and determined anthropometric data, muscle mass (MM) and the muscle mass index (MMI). Assessment of muscle mass was performed by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). The cut-off point for defining sarcopenia MMI was established as less than 2 SD of the mean of a reference group comprising 220 healthy volunteers (20-42 years) in the same area. Results were compared with studies undertaken in the USA, France and Taiwan.

RESULTS:

The cut-off points obtained were 8.31 Kg/m(2) for men and 6.68 Kg/m2 for women, being similar to those observed in France and Taiwan but different from the USA. The prevalence of sarcopenia observed was 33% for elderly women and 10% for males. On comparison of the prevalence of sarcopenia in the four populations, we observed some differences, particularly in males.

CONCLUSIONS:

We have defined reference values for sarcopenia, determined by BIA, in our setting. We also observed a remarkable prevalence of sarcopenia in the healthy elderly community, especially in females, showing some differences from those in other geographical regions.

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