Association between Muscle Mass with Frailty State in Elderly

Abstract

Background: Frailty is a syndrome characterized by diminished strength, endurance, and reduced physiologic

function caused by multiple etiologies, leading to a higher rate of vulnerability for functional loss and death.

Low muscle mass is reported to be an important link between sarcopenia and frailty. A progressive decrease

in muscle mass occurs at annual rate of 1% to 2% after the age of 30 years and accelerates to 1,5% to 3%

year after the age of 60 years then even faster after the age of 75 years. The strong association between

muscle mass and frailty leads us to find out the association between muscle mass and frailty status in elderly.

Method: The study was a cross-sectional with 77 subjects of aged ?60 years. Frailty defined as meeting ? 3

of 5 criteria: unintentional weight loss, reduced gait speed, reduced grip strength (weakness), self-reported

exhaustion, and low physical activity level. Muscle mass was determined by bioelectrical impedance

analysis (BIA) TANITA BC-601. Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (AWGS) recommends cut off values

were <7 kg/m2 in men and <5,7 kg/m2 in women, defined by appendicular skeletal muscle mass/height2

(ASM/height2)

Results: The study shows the prevalence of low muscle mass was 11,7%. The prevalence of prefrail and frail

was 44,2% and 24,7%. Frail was significantly higher in subjects with low muscle mass, whereas robust and

prefrail were higher in subjects with normal muscle mass (p<0,05). Among frailty components, reduced gait

speed was the most prevalent (51,9%).

Conclusions: Muscle mass was signifinantly associated with frailty status in elderly people.