The role of sarcopenia in the risk of osteoporotic hip fracture

Several common age-related mechanisms and factors influence muscle and bone, affecting functionality of both tissues. Sarcopenia is closely linked with osteoporosis, and their combined effect may exacerbate negative health outcomes. Fall-related fractures are some of the most serious consequences of these two systemic pathologies, with hip fracture being a major complication affecting osteoporotic and sarcopenic elderly. This work aims to review the literature on the current state of knowledge about the relations between sarcopenia and osteoporosis and to present the association between sarcopenia and osteoporosis and the risk of hip fracture. A literature search was performed in PubMed and Scopus databases for articles with the predefined terms “sarcopenia,” “muscular atrophy,” “femoral fractures,” “hip fractures,” “osteoporosis,” and “bone density.” There is a growing and significant interest being directed to sarcopenia and associated risk for osteoporotic hip fracture, but there still is a notorious heterogeneity in the methodology and cohort size of the available studies. Collectively, most of the studies herein analyzed indicate that sarcopenia could be a predictor of risk for hip fracture. The simultaneous evaluation of sarcopenia and osteoporosis may be of importance in identifying those patients in higher risk of suffering an osteoporotic hip fracture and who could benefit from preventive or therapeutic interventions, or both.