Five-year longitudinal changes in thigh muscle mass of septuagenarian men and women assessed with DXA and MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were used to assess changes in thigh lean mass in septuagenarian men and women during a 5-year longitudinal study. Twenty-four older individuals participated in the study (10 men: 71.6 ± 4.1 years; 14 women: 71.3 ± 3.2 years at baseline). Thigh MRI and whole-body DXA scans were used to estimate changes in thigh lean mass. Both MRI and DXA showed that thigh lean mass was reduced by approximately 5% ( P = 0.001) over the 5-year period in both men and women. The percentage loss of muscle mass determined with MRI and DXA showed moderate correlation ( R 2 = 0.466; P