Analysis of methods for detecting sarcopenia in independent community-dwelling elderly women

Abstract Introduction: Aging imposes changes in the body composition of individuals. One of the most striking changes during this period is the progressive loss of mass, strength and muscle function, known as sarcopenia. Objectives: To evaluate the presence of sarcopenia in healthy elderly women living in the community through a combination of different methods to assess muscle mass (MM) and physical performance, as well as analyzing whether there is correlation between the different methods of defining sarcopenia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed of 37 older adults of the Universidade Aberta da Maturidade (Open University for Mature Persons). The parameters used to assess MM were calf circumference (CC) and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) through bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and the skeletal muscle index (SMI) Handgrip strength (HS) using a manual dynamometer, gait speed (GS) over 10m and the timed up and go (TUG) test for functional mobility were used to measure physical performance. To compare the sarcopenia diagnostic methods four different combinations were employed: C1= SMI+HS+GS; C2= SMI+HS+TUG; C3= CC+HS+GS and C4= CC+HS+TUG, according to European consensus proposals. To verify the differences between the methods the Kruskal-Wallis test and Multiple Comparisons for Unpaired Data were applied, and the weighted Kappa coefficient was used to assess the degree of agreement. Results: The C1 and C2 combinations identified pre-sarcopenia, sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia. A close correlation between C1 and C2 was found (0.92), while C3 and C4 did not identify the presence of sarcopenia in the elderly women. Conclusion: CC used to evaluate MM was not precise in the detection of sarcopenia in overweight elderly women. However, there was a strong agreement between the two combinations using SMI and GS or TUG, suggesting that both can be effectively applied in clinical practice.