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Prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in older German men using recognized definitions: high accordance but low overlap!

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Abstract

Summary

The relevance of sarcopenia and sarcopenic Obesity (SO) is rising in our aging societies. Applying recognized definitions to 965 community-dwelling Bavarian men 70 years+ resulted in a prevalence for sarcopenia between 3.7 and 4.9 and between 2.1 and 4.1% for SO. Despite this high consistency, the overlap between the definitions/approaches was <50%.

Introduction

The relevance of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity (SO) is rising steadily in the aging societies of most developed nations. However, different definitions, components, and cutoff points hinder the evaluation of the prevalence of sarcopenia and SO. The purpose of this contribution was to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and SO in a cohort of community-dwelling German men 70+ applying established sarcopenia (European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People, Foundation National Institute of Health, International Working Group on Sarcopenia) and obesity definitions. Further, we addressed the overlap between the definitions.

Methods

Altogether, 965 community-dwelling men 70 years and older living in Northern Bavaria, Germany, were assessed during the screening phase of the Franconian Sarcopenic Obesity project. Segmental multi-frequency bio-impedance analysis (BIA) was applied to determine weight and body composition.

Results

Applying the definitions of EWGSOP, IWGS, and FNIH, 4.9, 3.8, and 3.7% of the total cohort were classified as sarcopenic, respectively. When further applying body fat to diagnose obesity, SO prevalence in the total cohort ranged from 4.1% (EWGSOP + body fat >25%) to 2.1% (IWGS + body fat >30%). Despite the apparently high consistency of the approaches with respect to prevalence, the overlap in individual sarcopenia diagnosis between the sarcopenia definitions was rather low (<50%).

Conclusion

The prevalence of sarcopenia and SO in community-dwelling German men 70 years+ is relatively low (<5%) independently of the definition used. However, consistency of individual sarcopenia diagnosis varies considerably between the three definitions. Since sarcopenia is now recognized as an independent condition by the International Classification of Diseases, a mandatory definition must be stated.

Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT2857660.

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Notes

  1. Franconia is the northern part of Bavaria.

  2. We used the identical DXA scanner and the succeeding model of their BIA device (i.e., InBody770).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank InBody Co. Ltd. (Seoul, Korea) which supplied the BIA device.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Physics (IMP), Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Henkestrasse 91, 91052, Erlangen, Germany

    W. Kemmler, M. Teschler, A. Weißenfels & S. von Stengel

  2. Institute of Biomedicine of Aging (IBA), Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Kobergerstrasse 60, 90408, Nürnberg, Germany

    C. Sieber & E. Freiberger

Authors
  1. W. Kemmler
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  2. M. Teschler
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  3. A. Weißenfels
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  4. C. Sieber
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  5. E. Freiberger
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  6. S. von Stengel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. Kemmler.

Ethics declarations

The Institute of Medical Physics and the Institute of Biomedicine of Aging, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany, initiated the project, which was approved by the University Ethics Committee of the FAU (Ethikantrag 67_15b). After detailed information, all study participants gave written informed consent.

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Kemmler, W., Teschler, M., Weißenfels, A. et al. Prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in older German men using recognized definitions: high accordance but low overlap!. Osteoporos Int 28, 1881–1891 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-017-3964-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-017-3964-9

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