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Relationships among peak expiratory flow rate, body composition, physical function, and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults

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Abstract

Background and aim

Although respiratory muscle strength is known to decrease with age, the relationship between pulmonary function and sarcopenia remains to be examined. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and skeletal muscle mass/sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults.

Methods

We utilized data from 427 older adults (age 74.4 ± 5.3 years, men/women 157/270) who had participated in the 2015 Otassha Kenshin, a longitudinal study that excluded participants with air-flow limitations. Diagnoses of sarcopenia were based on criteria outlined in the Consensus Report of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia and adjusted for Japanese individuals. We compared body composition, physical function, and lung function between patients with and without sarcopenia. Receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC) for sarcopenia was performed using PEFR, calf circumference, and body mass index.

Results

Sixty-five participants (men/women 12/53) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. Patients with sarcopenia were older than those without sarcopenia, and had lower height, weight, body mass index, skeletal muscle mass, appendicular skeletal mass, and skeletal muscle index. Stepwise multiple regression analysis identified whole-body skeletal mass as an independent factor for PEFR. ROC analysis of sarcopenia identified a cut-off value of 5.0 L s for PEFR, with a sensitivity of 0.62, specificity of 0.77, and area under the curve of 0.73 (95% CI 0.67–0.79; P < 0.001).

Discussion and conclusion

Our findings suggest that physical function is more strongly associated with respiratory muscle mass than total skeletal muscle mass and that PEFR may be a valid indicator of sarcopenia.

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Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by the Itabashi ward office and local residents. The Otassha Kenshin study was supported by Research and Development Grants for Longevity Science from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) (Grant No. 15dk0107004h0003) and JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. JP15K08824).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35–2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Takeshi Kera, Hisashi Kawai, Hirohiko Hirano, Yoshinori Fujiwara & Shuichi Obuchi

  2. Japanese Red Cross Ogawa Hospital, Saitama, Japan

    Takeshi Kera

  3. University of Tokyo Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Motonaga Kojima

  4. Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazushige Ihara

Authors
  1. Takeshi Kera
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  2. Hisashi Kawai
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  3. Hirohiko Hirano
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  4. Motonaga Kojima
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  5. Yoshinori Fujiwara
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  6. Kazushige Ihara
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  7. Shuichi Obuchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takeshi Kera.

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Conflict of interest

None declared.

Statement of human and animal rights

The present study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (approval number H18, 2015). This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

All participants provided written informed consent prior to study participation.

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Kera, T., Kawai, H., Hirano, H. et al. Relationships among peak expiratory flow rate, body composition, physical function, and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 331–340 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-017-0777-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-017-0777-9

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