Association among sarcopenia, physical activity and quality of life in healthy elderly

Background: loss of skeletal muscle mass (sarcopenia) is one of the most profound changes affecting the human body with ageing (Narici &Maffulli 2010) as it reduces strength, mobility and ability to dispose of circulating blood-sugar, eventually reducing quality of life of individuals. However there is paucity of data on the prevalence of sarcopenia in non-clinical populations and in particular how this affects mobility and quality of life. Aim: to investigate the association between sarcopenia and variables related to quality of life in a population of medically stable, community-dwelling elderly men and women. Method: 88 participants (40 male and 48 female), age range 64-83 years (mean 72.3 ± 4.6 years), body mass index (BMI) men: 26.5 ±3.7 and women: 24.7±3.5, were recruited for this study and underwent the following measurements: a) Body Composition analysis (by bioelectrical impedance, BIA), b) Gait speed, measured over 4 m, c) Quality of Life (QoL) measured using the Medical Outcomes Survey Short-form General Health Survey (SF- 36) translated and validated in Italian (Apolone and Mosconi, 1998) and, d) Physical Activity level, measured with the IPAQ-short version, (Mannocci et al. 2010). The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and strength of monotonic relationship between paired data was tested with the Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: BIA Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI) was 34.3±3.2 for men and 30.8±4.9 for women; 45 participants (51%) were classified as sarcopenic and 43 (49%) as non-sarcopenic according to Janssen et al. (2002). SMI significantly correlated with musculoskeletal pain (Rho=-0.245; p<0,05), in particular sarcopenic people reported a more intensive musculoskeletal pain. Instead, no correlation between SMI and physical activity level was found. IPAQ categorical score was low 10% (n=9), moderate 42% (n=37), high 40% (n=16) for the men and low 13% (n=6), moderate 33% (n=16), high 54% (n=26) for the women and IPAQ score was positively correlated with social activities (Rho=0.301; p<0.01). Conclusions: Our findings show that sarcopenia is widespread (prevalence >50%) even amongst moderately to highly physically active older individuals. Although sarcopenia is associated with an increased perception of musculoskeletal pain, some compensatory mechanisms seem to be in place since mobility was found to be preserved.