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Diaphragmatic muscle thickness in older people with and without sarcopenia

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Abstract

Background

Studies in mice have suggested that sarcopenic animals may have atrophic diaphragmatic muscles; however, to date, no clinical studies are available.

Aims

To investigate whether the diaphragmatic thickness is affected in older patients with sarcopenia and if this is associated with impaired respiratory functions.

Methods

Thirty sarcopenic and 30 non-sarcopenic elderly patients aged over 65 were included. All patients underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment. The diagnosis of sarcopenia was made according to the criteria of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People. Ultrasonographic evaluations of the patients were carried out by an experienced radiologist. Diaphragmatic thickness was measured in three positions: end of deep inspiration, quiet breathing, end of forced expiration. Peak expiratory flow (PEF) rate was evaluated by a peak flow meter.

Results

The mean age of the patients was 77 ± 6 years, and 58% were females. Diaphragmatic thickness in three different positions (deep inspiration [2.3 mm (min–max: 1.3–4.1) vs. 2.5 mm (min–max: 1.9–4.9)], quiet breathing [1.8 mm (min–max: 1.0–2.8) vs. 2.00 mm (min–max: 1.3–3.9)] and end of forced expiration [1.1 mm (min–max: 0.7–2.5) vs. 1.5 mm (min–max: 0.5–3.4)]) were found to be thinner in sarcopenic patients compared to non-sarcopenics (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, p < 0.01, respectively). Also, PEF rate results were lower in patients with sarcopenia (245 L/min [min–max: 150–500] vs. 310 L/min [min–max: 220–610], p < 0.01). Diaphragmatic muscle thicknesses in all three positions were independently associated with sarcopenia status of the participants.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that sarcopenia in older people may be associated with reduced diaphragmatic muscle thickness and respiratory functions. Findings are needed to be confirmed in further multicenter studies with big sample sizes.

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Funding

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Olgun Deniz, Suheyla Coteli, Hacer Dogan Varan, Muhammet Cemal Kizilarslanoglu & Berna Goker

  2. Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nur Betul Karatoprak, Mehmet Can Pence & Suna Ozhan Oktar

  3. Division of Geriatrics, Bursa City Hospital, Bursa, Turkey

    Olgun Deniz

Authors
  1. Olgun Deniz
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  2. Suheyla Coteli
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  3. Nur Betul Karatoprak
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  4. Mehmet Can Pence
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  5. Hacer Dogan Varan
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  6. Muhammet Cemal Kizilarslanoglu
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  8. Berna Goker
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Contributions

OD, BG and MCK equally contributed to the conception and design of the research; OD, SC, NBK, MCP, HDV, SOO equally contributed to the acquisition and analysis of the data; OD, MCK, SOO and BG equally contributed to the interpretation of the data; and OD, MCK, and BG drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript, agree to be fully accountable for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the work, and read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olgun Deniz.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Ethics in Research Committee of Gazi University School of Medicine.

Statement of human and animal rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Deniz, O., Coteli, S., Karatoprak, N.B. et al. Diaphragmatic muscle thickness in older people with and without sarcopenia. Aging Clin Exp Res 33, 573–580 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01565-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01565-5

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