Sarcopenia reduces quality of life in the long-term: longitudinal analyses from the English longitudinal study of ageing

Abstract

Purpose: Mixed findings exist for sarcopenia/quality of life (QoL) relationship. Moreover, the majority of studies in this area have utilized a cross-sectional design or specific clinical populations. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the association between sarcopenia at baseline and QoL at 10 years follow-up in a large representative sample of older English adults.

Methods: Sarcopenia was diagnosed as having low handgrip strength and low skeletal muscle mass index. QoL was measured using the CASP (control, autonomy, self-realisation and pleasure)-19, with higher values reflecting higher QoL. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess prospective associations between sarcopenia at baseline and poor QoL at follow-up; generalized linear model with repeated measures was used for reporting mean changes during follow-up between sarcopenia and not.

Results: Among 4044 older participants initially included at baseline (mean age: 70.7 years; 55.1% females), 376 had sarcopenia. In the multivariable analysis, after adjusting for several potential confounders, sarcopenia at baseline was associated with a higher incidence of poor QoL (odds ratio, OR = 5.82; 95% confidence interval, CI 3.45-9.82). After matching for QoL values at baseline and adjusting for potential confounders, people with sarcopenia reported significantly lower values in CASP-19 (mean difference = - 3.94; 95% CI - 4.77 to - 3.10).

Conclusions: In this large representative sample of older English adults, it was observed that sarcopenia at baseline was associated with worse scores of QoL at follow-up compared to those without sarcopenia at baseline. It may be prudent to target those with sarcopenia to improve QoL.

Keywords: Ageing; ELSA; Epidemiology; Longitudinal; Older adults; Quality of life; Sarcopenia.

Fig. 1

Flowchart of the selection of participants

Fig. 2

Changes of quality of life, during follow-up, by presence of sarcopenia or not at baseline (weighted data). Data are reported as mean and standard errors by presence of sarcopenia (red line) and absence of this condition (blue line), matching people with and without sarcopenia for CASP-19 values at wave 2. Analyses were adjusted for age (as continuous variable); gender; years of education (as continuous variable); ethnicity (whites vs. non-whites); marital status (married vs. other status); smoking status (ever vs. never); Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (as continuous variable); physical activity level (high vs. others); presence of multimorbidity (yes vs. no)