[Changes of skeletal muscle mass among disabled elderly]

Abstract

Background: The reduction of skeletal muscle mass and strength, that occurs with aging (sarcopenia), leads to disability in the elderly population.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia among older disabled nursing home residents and to examine the relationship between skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and routine data of nutritional, functional status and body composition estimations.

Participants: Sixty three men and women aged 63 to 99 years old (mean +/- SD = 84.7 +/- 7.1) suffering from advanced dementia (89.8%), who have undergone evaluations and are considered disabled according to their functional status (FIM = 27-32 +/- 7.2-7.9%).

Measurements: The whole SMM and body composition (FFM, FM) were assessed by daily urinary creatinine excretion and the results were compared to routine data on nutritional, functional status, body composition, functional status indexes and muscle strength (MMT).

Results: Prevalence of sarcopenia was 87.5% and 41.0% for men and women, respectively. Significant differences were found in both gender groups in all indexes of body composition and SMM: prevalence of underweight was 15.4% in women vs 33.3% in men. Absolute levels of FFM and SMM in men were significantly higher, but relative to height2 were reduced among men compared to women. No correlation was found between SMM and routine data of nutritional status, but it highly correlates with values of functional status and body composition.

Conclusion: Sarcopenia in elderly nursing home residents is one of the important parameters of disability and its prevalence in men is twice as high in comparison to women. The routine nutritional status assessments are limited to estimation of skeletal muscle mass. The method of measuring SMM, based on daily creatinine excretion, is simple but well correlated with body composition and functional status data.