Sarcopenia: Relocating the Forest among the Trees

As life expectancy continues to rise worldwide, health concerns associated with advanced age are increasingly becoming prominent public health concerns. Among these concerns, nearly 30 years of discussion and research have yielded a wealth of information regarding the pathophysiology, biologic etiology, and clinical implications of age-related declines in skeletal muscle mass and function (i.e., sarcopenia). Recent years have yielded several debates surrounding both the definition and terminology of sarcopenia, yet many questions remain regarding interventions to treat the condition. Among major future challenges in the area will be to design and conduct high-quality clinical trials to ultimately provide new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of sarcopenia.