| Year | 2023 |
| Authors | Stuck AK, Tsai LT, Freystaetter G, Vellas B, Kanis JA, Rizzoli R, Kressig KS, Armbrecht G, Da Silva JAP, Dawson-Hughes B, Egli A, Bischoff-Ferrari HA |
| Title | Comparing Prevalence of Sarcopenia Using Twelve Sarcopenia Definitions in a Large Multinational European Population of Community-Dwelling Older Adults |
| Journal | J Nutr Health Aging. 2023;27(3):205-212. doi: 10.1007/s12603-023-1888-y. PMID: 36973929 |
Abstract
Objectives: Multinational prevalence data on sarcopenia among generally healthy older adults is limited. The aim of the study was to assess prevalence of sarcopenia in the DO-HEALTH European trial based on twelve current sarcopenia definitions.
Setting and participants: This is an analysis of the DO-HEALTH study including 1495 of 2157 community-dwelling participants age 70+ years from Germany, France, Portugal, and Switzerland with complete measurements of the sarcopenia toolbox including muscle mass by DXA, grip strength, and gait speed.
Measurements: The twelve sarcopenia definitions applied were Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (AWGS1), AWGS2, Baumgartner, Delmonico, European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP1), EWGSOP2, EWGSOP2-lower extremities, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH1), FNIH2, International Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (IWGS), Morley, and Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium (SDOC).
Results: Mean age was 74.9 years (SD 4.4); 63.3% were women. Sarcopenia prevalence ranged between 0.7% using the EWGSOP2 or AWGS2 definition, up to 16.8% using the Delmonico definition. Overall, most sarcopenia definitions, including Delmonico (16.8%), Baumgartner (12.8%), FNIH1(10.5%), IWGS (3.6%), EWGSOP1 (3.4%), SDOC (2.0%), Morley (1.3%), and AWGS1 (1.1%) tended to be higher than the prevalence based on EWGSOP2 (0.7%). In contrast, the definitions AWGS2 (0.7%), EWGSOP2-LE (1.1%), FNIH2 (1.0%) – all based on muscle mass and muscle strength – showed similar lower prevalence as EWGSOP2 (0.7%). Moreover, most sarcopenia definitions did not overlap on identifying sarcopenia on an individual participant-level.
Conclusion: In this multinational European trial of community-dwelling older adults we found major discordances of sarcopenia prevalence both on a population- and on a participant- level between various sarcopenia definitions. Our findings suggest that the concept of sarcopenia may need to be rethought to reliably and validly identify people with impaired muscle health.