Lower Limb Strength Profile in Elderly with Different Pathologies: Comparisons with Healthy Subjects.

Valentina Bullo,Andrea Ermolao,Lucia Cugusi,Gioia Bianchini,Eleonora Doria,Manuele Bergamo,Enrico Roma,Danilo Sales Bocalini,Andrea Di Blasio,Federica Duregon,Stefano Gobbo,Marco Bergamin

doi:10.3390/geriatrics5040083

Abstract

Sarcopenia and muscle strength reduction are a frequent disorder in non-communicable chronic diseases. The aims of this study are: (a) to verify if the absolute and relative to body weight muscle strength of lower limb is affected by the presence of pathology; (b) to verify if the trends are different among knee and ankles joints. One-hundred and forty-five elderly were recruited (16 liver transplant recipients, 48 kidney transplant recipients, 52 elderly with obesity, 30 healthy elderly). Muscular strength of lower limb was evaluated. Evaluation protocol included maximal isometric knee extension, maximal isokinetic knee extension and flexion, maximal isokinetic ankle (both right and left) extension and flexion. A statistically significant interaction between measurement and group membership was found for absolute strength measure (F (4.23, 170.56) = 3.316, p = 0.011, partial η2 (η2p) = 0.076), and relative strength measure(F (4.44, 174.72) = 16.407, p < 0.01, partial η2 (η2p) = 0.294). Elderly patients living with kidney transplants showed the lower level of absolute muscular strength, while relative muscular strength is mainly lacking in the elderly with obesity. The strength profile of elderly subjects is affected by obesity, liver transplantation, and kidney transplantation.

Highlights

Ageing alone entails a normal decline of physical efficiency as well as the overall physical fitness and body composition
The liver transplant recipient group (LTR) consisted of 15 individuals, the kidney transplant recipient group (KTR) of
28 moderate outliers were found in the obesity group” (OB), and 7 in the healthy group (HEG) for the variable age

Summary

Introduction

Ageing alone entails a normal decline of physical efficiency as well as the overall physical fitness and body composition. These changes involve muscular strength [1] and peak power output [2], which appears to be related to the loss of muscle mass due to an age-related factor as well as neuromuscular changes [3]. Dynapenia is the reduction of muscle strength without neurological or muscular disease [4]. The degree of muscle loss is variable and depends on different factors. The nervous system’s deterioration affects the control of voluntary skeletal muscle activation, with the reduction of motor units. The loss of muscle strength and power are the consequence of a lower ability

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Conclusion