Abstract
Abstract Introduction: Sarcopenic obesity in older adults may lead to an inability to use muscles efficiently and has been associated with functional deficits and disabilities. Objective: To identify the prevalence of obesity and sarcopenic obesity (SO) among community-dwelling older adults, and to characterize associated sociodemographics, health conditions and functional performance. Methods: Study data are from the FIBRA Network database of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. There were 1,373 older adult participants, subdivided into three groups: 1) non-obese; 2) non-sarcopenic obese; and 3) sarcopenic obese (SO). The latter is defined as a BMI ≥30 kg/m2 and weak palmar grip strength (PGS). Results: The overall prevalence of obesity and SO among older adults was 25.85% and 4.44%, respectively, with levels of frailty and pre-frailty among at 36.1% and 59%, respectively. Gait speed (GS) was lower in the SO group as well, compared to the other groups. An average increase in GS of 0.1 m/sec reduced the likelihood of SO by 85.1%, in average. Sarcopenic obese older adults were 14.2 times more likely to be pre-fragile and 112.9 times more likely to be fragile than the other groups. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity found in this study was higher than that in the general population, but similar to national statistics for the sample’s mean age and gender. SO was directly associated with frailty in advanced and instrumental activities of daily living as well as gait speed and significantly increased the likelihood of being pre-frail and frail. GS may be an extremely useful tool for monitoring the progress of SO in older adults.
Highlights
Sarcopenic obesity in older adults may lead to an inability to use muscles efficiently and has been associated with functional deficits and disabilities
Obesity prevalence was proportionally highest in the city of Barueri (25.9% of the 379 older adults interviewed in the city were obese), followed by Belo
Low PGS is one of the items that compose the phenotype of frailty, a condition associated with dependency, institutionalization, morbidity and mortality among older adults.[21]. The findings of this study show that frailty is a prevalent condition among the older adults included in the sample and that it is more prevalent among older adults who are classified as sarcopenic obese
Summary
Sarcopenic obesity in older adults may lead to an inability to use muscles efficiently and has been associated with functional deficits and disabilities. The loss of lean body mass decreases the basal energy expenditure and can be associated with or aggravated by hormonal changes, reduced physical activity, comorbidities and dietary changes, contributing to an increase in adipose tissue (1 – 4), which tends to accumulate in the abdominal region. This phenomenon may be correlated to chronic subclinical inflammation, which in turn aggravates sarcopenia [3, 5, 6]. This may contribute to a decrease in physical activity levels and, lead to greater neuromuscular dysfunction [7]
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