Abstract
Background
Sarcopenia and osteopenia/osteoporosis show a high prevalence in old age and incur a high risk for falls, fractures, and further functional decline. Physical performance and bone metabolism in patients suffering from the so-called osteosarcopenia—the combination of sarcopenia and osteopenia—are currently still unknown.
Aims
This study investigates physical performance and bone metabolism in osteosarcopenic, prefrail, community-dwelling older adults.
Methods
68 prefrail adults between 65 and 94 years were assigned to four groups according to mean DXA results: osteosarcopenic [low T-score and low appendicular lean mass (aLM)], sarcopenic (low aLM), osteopenic (low T-score), and controls. Multiple linear regression analysis, adjusted for age, gender, physical activity, and 25-OH-vitamin D3 serum level, was used to identify the influence of being osteosarcopenic, sarcopenic, or osteopenic on physical performance (hand grip, chair rise test, sit-to-stand power, gait speed, SPPB) and serum markers for increased bone turnover [osteocalcin, β-crosslaps and procollagen type 1 amino-terminal propeptide (P1NP)].
Results
Only osteosarcopenic participants showed significantly reduced hand grip strength, increased chair rising time, and STS power time as well as significantly increased bone turnover markers.
Discussion
Due to low physical performance and high bone turnover, older adults with osteosarcopenia have to be regarded as the most at-risk population for fractures and further functional decline.
Conclusions
Up-to-date osteoporosis and post-fracture management of older persons should aim at both, bone and muscle.
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Acknowledgement
The authors want to thank the volunteer participants and John Hoppe for providing language help.
The members of the FiAT intervention group: Astrid Zech, Department of Exercise Physiology, Institute of Sports Science, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Germany; Ellen Freiberger, Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany; Klaus Pfeifer, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute of Sport Science and Sport, Erlangen, Germany.
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Michael Drey and Jürgen M. Bauer were supported by a Forschungskolleg Geriatrie Grant from the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart, Germany. The reagents for bone marker measurements were kindly provided from Roche Diagnostics.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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The members of the FiAT intervention group are mentioned in the Acknowledgement.
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Drey, M., Sieber, C.C., Bertsch, T. et al. Osteosarcopenia is more than sarcopenia and osteopenia alone. Aging Clin Exp Res 28, 895–899 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-015-0494-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-015-0494-1