Diagnostic measures for sarcopenia and bone mineral density

SUMMARY: Currently used diagnostic measures for sarcopenia utilize different measures of muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. These diagnostic measures associate differently to bone mineral density (BMD), as an example of muscle-related clinical outcome. These differences should be taken into account when studying sarcopenia.INTRODUCTION: Diagnostic measures for sarcopenia utilize different measures of muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. To understand differences between these measures, we determined the association with respect to whole body BMD, as an example of muscle-related clinical outcome.METHODS: In the European cross-sectional study MYOAGE, 178 young (18-30 years) and 274 healthy old participants (69-81 years) were recruited. Body composition and BMD were evaluated using dual-energy X-ray densitometry. Diagnostic measures for sarcopenia were composed of lean mass as percentage of body mass, appendicular lean mass (ALM) as percentage of body mass, ALM divided by height squared (ALM/height(2)), knee extension torque, grip strength, walking speed, and Timed Up and Go test (TUG). Linear regression models were stratified for sex and age and adjusted for age and country, and body composition in separate models.RESULTS: Lean mass and ALM/height(2) were positively associated with BMD (P CONCLUSIONS: The associations between diagnostic measures of sarcopenia and BMD as an example of muscle-related outcome vary widely. Differences between diagnostic measures should be taken into account when studying sarcopenia.