TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of sarcopenia in a Danish geriatric out-patient population
AU - Christensen, Mathilde Glud
AU - Piper, Katrine Storm
AU - Dreier, Rasmus
AU - Suetta, Charlotte
AU - Andersen, Hanne Elkjær
N1 - Articles published in the DMJ are “open access”. This means that the articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of sarcopenia varies extensively depending on the definitions and studied populations. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia in a Danish geriatric out-patient population using criteria from the European Working Group on Sarcopenia (EWGSOP). METHODS: Patients referred to a geriatric outpatient-clinic were included. Using the EWGSOP´s recommendations, Ap-pendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM), hand-grip strength (HGS) and gait speed (ten-meter walk (GS)) were assessed. Skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) was calculated by ASM/ height2 (kg/m2), and patients were classified with: no sarcopenia (normal SMI), pre-sarcopenia (reduced SMI, normal HGS and GS), sarcopenia (reduced SMI and reduced HGS or GS) or severe sarcopenia (reduced SMI, HGS and GS). RESULTS: A total of 189 patients were screened, 80 were included. In all, 12 (15%) had severe sarcopenia, nine (11%) sarcopenia, eight (10%) pre-sarcopenia and 51 (64%) no sarcopenia. Mean age was significantly higher in the SARC-group (sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia) than in the NO-SARC-group (pre-sarcopenia and no sarcopenia) (p = 0.009), and BMI was significantly lower in the SARC-group (p < 0.0001). No difference was found in gender distribution (p = 0.729). CONCLUSIONS: 26% of patients in a geriatric outpatient population had sarcopenia, which highlights that this is a common condition. Standard assessments can identify functional limitations, but not sarcopenia. The EWGSOP’s recommendations are feasible, and we suggest that they should form part of the standard clinical comprehensive geriatric assessment.
AB - INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of sarcopenia varies extensively depending on the definitions and studied populations. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia in a Danish geriatric out-patient population using criteria from the European Working Group on Sarcopenia (EWGSOP). METHODS: Patients referred to a geriatric outpatient-clinic were included. Using the EWGSOP´s recommendations, Ap-pendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM), hand-grip strength (HGS) and gait speed (ten-meter walk (GS)) were assessed. Skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) was calculated by ASM/ height2 (kg/m2), and patients were classified with: no sarcopenia (normal SMI), pre-sarcopenia (reduced SMI, normal HGS and GS), sarcopenia (reduced SMI and reduced HGS or GS) or severe sarcopenia (reduced SMI, HGS and GS). RESULTS: A total of 189 patients were screened, 80 were included. In all, 12 (15%) had severe sarcopenia, nine (11%) sarcopenia, eight (10%) pre-sarcopenia and 51 (64%) no sarcopenia. Mean age was significantly higher in the SARC-group (sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia) than in the NO-SARC-group (pre-sarcopenia and no sarcopenia) (p = 0.009), and BMI was significantly lower in the SARC-group (p < 0.0001). No difference was found in gender distribution (p = 0.729). CONCLUSIONS: 26% of patients in a geriatric outpatient population had sarcopenia, which highlights that this is a common condition. Standard assessments can identify functional limitations, but not sarcopenia. The EWGSOP’s recommendations are feasible, and we suggest that they should form part of the standard clinical comprehensive geriatric assessment.
KW - Absorptiometry, Photon
KW - Aged
KW - Aged, 80 and over
KW - Denmark/epidemiology
KW - Female
KW - Geriatric Assessment
KW - Hand Strength
KW - Humans
KW - Logistic Models
KW - Male
KW - Multivariate Analysis
KW - Outpatients
KW - Prevalence
KW - Sarcopenia/epidemiology
KW - Walking Speed
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29886880
SN - 1603-9629
VL - 65
JO - Danish Medical Journal
JF - Danish Medical Journal
IS - 6
M1 - A5485
ER -