Prevalence, incidence, and clinical impact of sarcopenia: facts, numbers, and epidemiology—update 2014

• Published in: Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 253 - 259
• Main Authors: Morley, John E., Anker, Stefan D., von Haehling, Stephan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2014; Springer‐Verlag; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Age; Aging; Anorexia; Clinical Nutrition; Cytokines; Disease; Editorial; Epidemiology; Exercise; Fractures; Gait; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Growth hormones; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Molecular Medicine; Mortality; Muscle function; Obesity; Older people; Oncology; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Proteins; Questionnaires; Sarcopenia; Testosterone; Womens health; Working groups
• ISSN: 2190-5991; 2190-6009
• DOI: 10.1007/s13539-014-0161-y

Sarcopenia is now defined as a decline in walking speed or grip strength associated with low muscle mass. Sarcopenia leads to loss of mobility and function, falls, and mortality. Sarcopenia is a major cause of frailty, but either condition can occur without the other being present. Sarcopenia is present in about 5 to 10 % of persons over 65 years of age. It has multiple causes including disease, decreased caloric intake, poor blood flow to muscle, mitochondrial dysfunction, a decline in anabolic hormones, and an increase in proinflammatory cytokines. Basic therapy includes resistance exercise and protein and vitamin D supplementation. There is now a simple screening test available for sarcopenia—SARC-F. All persons 60 years and older should be screened for sarcopenia and treated when appropriate.