Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder that is associated with increased likelihood of adverse outcomes including falls, fractures, physical disability and mortality. This syndrome is characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, and it is strictly correlated with physical disability, poor quality of life and death. Risk factors for sarcopenia include age, gender and level of physical activity.
Prevalence of sarcopenia varies significantly based on factors such as living status, demographics, measurement techniques and diagnostic criteria. Sarcopenia can cause problems with daily activities like standing from a chair, walking, twisting the lid off a jar, or carrying groceries. Approximately 10–20% of older adults are thought to have sarcopenia, although The Office of Women’s Health noted that it could be even more prevalent, since not everyone is assessed for this condition.
Deeper dive
The correlation between inactivity and losses of muscle mass and strength suggests that physical activity should be a protective factor for the prevention and management of sarcopenia. A person with sarcopenia or clinical frailty may also not be receiving correct and sufficient nutrition, according to recent research. The loss in muscle mass may also be associated with increased body fat so that despite normal weight, there is marked weakness, a condition called sarcopenic obesity.
Until about a decade ago, there was little agreement on how to measure sarcopenia in older adults. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium Sarcopenia Project first developed parameters for standardized assessments in 2014; these were updated in 2019. These criteria include: walking speed; grip strength to measure weakness, and muscle mass in the legs and arms. Other consensus criteria by the European Working Group in Sarcopenia for Older People — EWGSOP2 — and the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia, AWGS2, are also widely used metrics for assessing this condition.