L'attività fisica a moderata e ad alta intensità svolta nel tempo libero è associata ai parametri della composizione corporea, alla forza muscolare e alla sarcopenia negli anziani con obesità e sindrome metabolica coinvolti nello studio PREDIMED-Plus

N. Rosique-Esteban, N. Babio, A. Díaz-López, D. Romaguera, J. Alfredo Martínez, V.M. Sanchez, H. Schröder, R. Estruch, J. Vidal, P. Buil-Cosiales, J. Konieczna, I. Abete, J. Salas-Salvadó

Clin Nutr. 2018 Jun 6. pii: S0261-5614(18)30209-7. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2018.05.023. [Epub ahead of print]

We aimed to examine the associations of leisure-time physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with the prevalence of sarcopenia, body composition and muscle strength among older adults having overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome, from the PREDIMED-Plus trial.

Cross-sectional baseline analysis including 1539 men and women (65 ± 5 y). Sarcopenia was defined as low muscle mass (according to FNIH cut-offs) plus low muscle strength (lowest sex-specific tertile for 30-s chair-stand test). We applied multivariable-adjusted Cox regression with robust variance and constant time (given the cross-sectional design) for the associations of self-reported leisure-time PA and SB with sarcopenia; and multivariable-linear regression for the associations with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-derived bone mass, fat mass, lean mass and lower-limb muscle strength.

Inverse associations were observed between sarcopenia and each hourly increment in total [prevalence ratio 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.70, 0.93)], moderate [0.80 (0.66, 0.97)], vigorous [0.51 (0.32, 0.84)], and moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) [0.74 (0.62, 0.89)]. Incrementing 1-h/day total-PA and MVPA was inversely associated with body-mass-index, waist circumference (WC), fat mass, and positively associated with bone mass and lower-limb muscle strength (all P <.05). One h/day increase in total SB, screen-based SB and TV-viewing was positively associated with body-mass-index, WC and fat mass. Light-PA was not significantly associated with any outcome.

Comment: Total-PA and PA at moderate and high intensities may protect against the prevalence of sarcopenia, have a beneficial role on body composition and prevent loss of muscle strength. SB, particularly TV-viewing, may have detrimental effects on body composition in older adults at high cardiovascular risk.