Original Study
Defining Sarcopenia in Terms of Incident Adverse Outcomes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2014.11.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to compare the performance of different diagnoses of sarcopenia using European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People, International Working Group on Sarcopenia, and the US Foundation of National Institutes of Health (FNIH) criteria, and the screening tool SARC-F, against the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia consensus panel definitions, in predicting physical limitation, slow walking speed, and repeated chair stand performance, days of hospital stay and mortality at follow up.

Design

Longitudinal study.

Setting

Community survey in Hong Kong.

Participants

Participants were 4000 men and women 65 years and older living in the community.

Measurements

Information from questionnaire regarding activities of daily living, physical functioning limitations, and constituent questions of SARC-F; body mass index (BMI), grip strength (GS), walking speed, and appendicular muscle mass (ASM).

Results

FNIH, consensus panel definitions, and the screening tool SARC-F all have similar AUC values in predicting incident physical limitation and physical performance measures at 4 years, walking speed at 7 years, days of hospital stay at 7 years, and mortality at 10 years. None of the definitions predicted increase in physical limitation at 4 years or mortality at 10 years in women, and none predicted all the adverse outcomes. The highest AUC values were observed for walking speed at 4 and 7 years.

Conclusion

When applied to a Chinese elderly population, criteria used for diagnosis of sarcopenia derived from European, Asian, and international consensus panels, from US cutoff values defined from incident physical limitation, and the SARC-F screening tool, all have similar performance in predicting incident physical limitation and mortality.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 4000 community-living Chinese men and women aged 65 and older were recruited for a cohort study on osteoporosis and general health (Mr Os) in Hong Kong between August 2001 and February 2003 by placing recruitment notices in community centers for older adults and housing estates. The aim was to recruit a stratified sample so that approximately 33% each would be aged 65 to 69, 70 to 74, and 75 and older. Those who were unable to walk independently, had had bilateral hip replacement, or

Results

Tables 2 and 3 show the baseline characteristics of participants according to sarcopenia diagnosis using the 2 FNIH definitions. Using the first definition, men who had sarcopenia were older; less educated; and had higher prevalence of COPD, cognitive impairment, and depressive symptoms; and 5 kg or more weight loss from age 25. For women, fewer differences were observed. Women classified as having sarcopenia were older and more had cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms. When slow gait

Discussion

The results show that sarcopenia FNIH diagnosis among Caucasians using cutoff values that have been derived from prospective studies involving a large number of participants26 does not appear to have any great advantage over definitions from consensus panels or the screening tool, when applied to a Chinese population. Some definitions have higher odds ratio (OR) in predicting some adverse outcomes compared with others, but there is no consistent pattern. For example, the highest OR for

Conclusion

When applied to a Chinese elderly population, criteria used for diagnosis of sarcopenia derived from European, Asian, and international consensus panels, from US cutoff values defined from incident physical limitation, and the SARC-F screening tool, all have similar performance in predicting incident physical limitation and mortality.

References (29)

  • J. Woo et al.

    Ethnic and geographic variations in muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance measures

    Eur Geriatr Med

    (2014)
  • D. Roman et al.

    Sarcopenia: What's in a name?

    J Am Med Dir Assoc

    (2013)
  • R.N. Baumgartner et al.

    Epidemiology of sarcopenia among the elderly in New Mexico

    Am J Epidemiol

    (1998)
  • L.J. Melton et al.

    Epidemiology of sarcopenia

    J Am Geriatr Soc

    (2000)
  • Cited by (0)

    The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

    View full text