Y.J. Wang, Y. Wang, J.K. Zhan, Z.Y. Tang, J.Y. He, P. Tan, H.Q. Deng, W. Huang, Y.S. Liu
Int J Endocrinol. 2015;2015:482940
Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are two distinct characteristics seen in older patients and are highly prevalent among older patients with frailty. Despite sharing common risk factors and biological pathways, the relationship between frailty and sarco-osteoporosis is not clear. More research is needed to better understand sarco-osteoporosis.
The objective this study was to investigate the prevalence of sarco-osteoporosis among 316 community-dwelling Chinese older people (aged ≥ 65years) and the relationship between sarco-osteoporosis and frailty applying Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) proposed criteria.
Results showed that the prevalence rate of sarco-osteoporosis was 10.4% in older men and 15.1% in older women. Age ≧80 years old, female gender and a higher level of comorbidity were independently associated with the likelihood of being sarco-osteoporosis. In the frail group, sarco-osteoporosis occurred in 26.3% of men, in 38.5% of women, and in lower proportion in the prefrail (13.6% of men; 16.2% of women) and nonfrail group (1.6% of men; 1.9% of women). Furthermore, the likelihood of being frail/prefrail was substantially higher in the presence of sarco-osteoporosis.




Comment:The joint effect of sarcopenia and osteoporosis may be tightly linked to the risk of frailty. Assessment of both bone and muscle mass/function in older adults could potentially enhance frailty risk prediction. Further prospective study is needed to clarify the roles of sarco-osteoporosis in the occurrence of frailty and frailty related health outcomes. Although no causal attribution is possible in this analysis, sarco-osteoporosis may explain some of the increases in frailty risk currently related to “age.” Therefore, it is appropriate to consider sarcopenia together with osteoporosis in the elderly population.