This study investigates the connection between sarcopenia and age-related spinal deformities, focusing on lumbar paravertebral muscles (PVM) quality and volume. Results show that sarcopenic patients have higher ectopic fat infiltration in PVM, contributing to spinal deformities, highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing sarcopenia in relation to spinal health.
This systematic literature review highlights the underrecognition of appetite loss in older adults and its association with malnutrition and mortality. The study underscores the urgent need for standardized screening and comprehensive guidelines to improve the assessment and management of appetite loss in this population.
This study reveals the prognostic value of sarcopenia measurements in patients with advanced metastatic gastroesophageal cancer, showing its association with poor overall and progression-free survival. The findings highlight the importance of considering sarcopenia status alongside clinical variables for better prognostication.
This article provides an overview of the current state of research on anorexia of ageing, its metabolic implications, and potential biomarkers, highlighting the need for further investigation into appetite regulation in older adults to improve health outcomes and personalized nutritional care.
Muscle strength has recently been defined as sarcopenia’s main component by the revised European Working Group in Sarcopenia for Older People (EWGSOP2). This shift from muscle mass to strength has had transformative implications within clinical practice and has greatly facilitated sarcopenia’s diagnostic process. Despite this trailblazing consensus, sarcopenia remains an issue of growing concern throughout high-income countries (HICs). Although low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by the threat of sarcopenia, their care providers and healthcare systems seem to be the least prepared to tackle it.
The aim of this article is to expose the state of sarcopenia awareness and management in LMICs. It further proposes solutions to prepare the developing world for this growing concern.
Nocturnal hypoxia commonly occurs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and in this context may be referred to as prolonged intermittent hypoxia (PIH). It is estimated that 1 in 5 COPD patients also suffer from sarcopenia, which may affect both respiratory and non-respiratory skeletal muscles and be causally linked to PIH. The presentation of sarcopenia alongside COPD is known to reduce quality of life and increase both hospitalisation and mortality rates in affected patients. Despite this, the adaptive cellular responses to PIH in skeletal muscle have not yet been adequately investigated.
The aim of this article was to discuss findings from a 2022 paper by Attaway and colleagues, which itself aimed to explore adaptive cellular responses to PIH.
All types of ovarian cancers hold a high risk of morbidity and mortality for the patients. Currently, there are many efforts to assess ovarian cancer progression, to allow for the development of accurate treatment and management plans for preventing mortality in the long-term. A physical indicator of increased vulnerability is frailty. Frailty can lead to falls, hospitalisation and increased risk of death. Generally, frailty is closely associated with poor prognosis and shorter progression-free survival in many conditions, including ovarian cancer. However, diagnosing frailty is complex, due to a lack of a set definition and due to comorbidities appearing in older patients. Although this study draws useful conclusions, its limitation holds that some confounding factors could not be adjusted for, meaning further research is needed to understand the interplay between ovarian cancer and frailty.
This review by Can E et al. aimed to understand the prognostic value of frailty to predict complications and mortality in patients with ovarian cancer.
Currently, medical treatment for cancer is personalised by looking at genetic and molecular factors of cancer cells. However, for characterising patients, factors such as age, weight, BMI, comorbidities, etc are used. Hence, there is no set, universal variable(s) to be used in managing cancer. It is possible that this is the reason that many anticancer drugs perform poorly clinically, due to this variability between patients. One of the factors that can be used is chronological age, which defines the patient’s accumulated damage to their system. Age is an accurate predictor of various outcomes, including the outcomes of anticancer drug therapies. For example, patients between the ages of 65-69 are often less likely to respond well to chemotherapy. A way to index age is sarcopenia, but due to the complex, varying body compositions associated with tumour growth, it is difficult to use sarcopenia consistently as an index for age in cancer management.
This review by Laviano A aimed to explore variables, such as sarcopenia and ageing, in their effects on cancer and anticancer drug successes.
No pharmacologic intervention has yet been approved for the treatment of sarcopenia. Only exercise and nutritional support via increased protein intake have been shown to significantly improve this condition. As such, lifestyle interventions aiming to increase physical exercise and/or protein intake are recommended for the prevention, management, and treatment of sarcopenia.
The aim of this systematic review was to assess the intervention (exercise or nutrition alone, against a combination of both) best able to improve sarcopenia. This improvement was measured in older adults using the skeletal muscle index (SMI), handgrip, and gait speed.
Three new definitions of sarcopenia have emerged in the past four years, proposed by the Sarcopenia Definition and Outcome Consortium (2020, SDOC), the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (2019, EWGSOP2) and the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (2019, AWGS2). No consensus on a unique definition of sarcopenia has yet been achieved, as the three new definitions proposed exhibit significant differences from each other. EWGSOP2’s definition of sarcopenia, for instance, characterises it as low muscle strength and mass, while the one developed by SDOC focuses on low muscle strength and gait speed instead.
The aim of this scoping review was to investigate all three recent sarcopenia definitions’ predictive validity for clinical outcomes.
The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle mainly publishes research on cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle wasting disorders, but also includes papers on cancer, heart failure, ageing and many other conditions. Before November 2022, there were seen to be 775,000 downloads of the articles within the journal, with the top three countries downloading articles being China, the US and Japan. The most downloaded and cited article is entitled, Cachexia as a major underestimated and unmet medical need: facts and numbers.
This review by Frohlich A et al. aimed to review the successes of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle in 2022.
Sarcopenia is characterised by an age-related decline in muscle mass and strength combined with impairments in physical function. The risk of falls, fractures, and death is doubled in individuals with sarcopenia compared to those without. This patient population also frequently possesses comorbid diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This may significantly increase their risk of suffering adverse outcomes post-surgery.
The aim of this editorial was to expose the serious nature of sarcopenia and underscore associated knowledge gaps in clinical practice.
Dynapenia is characterised by an age-related loss of muscle strength. When coupled with low muscle mass, it is instead diagnosed as sarcopenia according to the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People revised guidelines (EWGSOP2).
The SARS-CoV-2 infection is accompanied by severe inflammation and increased catabolism, which may significantly impact infected patients’ skeletal muscle structure and function. These impacts may be detrimental to elderly patients, who are disproportionately affected and already highly burdened by the disease. Recent studies have suggested that sarcopenia at the time of hospital admission may shape older patients’ length of stay and increase mortality in those with moderate to severe COVID-19.
The aim of this study was to examine the association between simple clinical biomarkers, including those for the assessment of muscle function and frailty, and the risk of poor survival as well as increased length of hospital stay in older patients with COVID-19. Sarcopenia was screened using SARC-F, while frailty was assessed in accordance with the Rockwood Clinical Frailty Scale.
Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) possess an increased risk of developing physical or phenotypic frailty. The skeletal muscle dysfunction underpinning physical frailty has been associated with increased mortality. CKD-related phenotypic frailty shares features with ageing-related frailty, and CKD has thus been touted as a clinically relevant model of premature ageing.
The aim of this review was to examine the metabolic basis and pathogenesis of the skeletal muscle dysfunction responsible for phenotypic frailty in patients with CKD.
Ageing is associated with increased fat accumulation and weight gain due to altered energy metabolism. Sarcopenia, defined as a loss of muscle mass and function associated with increased mortality risk, is also linked to ageing.
Sarcopenia obesity (SO) refers to the combination of age-related sarcopenia and obesity, and stems from the negative correlation between intermuscular adipose tissue accumulation and muscle performance.
While elderly patients with obesity possess lower death rates than those with lower body mass indexes, patients with SO have higher mortality rates than these same peers. This, as well as obesity’s protective role against sarcopenia in the elderly, is the basis of the commonly known ‘obesity paradox’.
The aim of this review was to assess the current clinical evidence relating to SO.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence has been shown to increase with age, an association which is clinically significant in the context of global ageing populations. Frailty, defined as increased vulnerability to stressors like surgery, is a marker associated with poor outcomes in patients with CRC. Sarcopenia, characterised by an age- and disease-related loss in muscle function and mass, has been identified as a major contributor to frailty. Patients with cancer also commonly experience cancer cachexia, i.e., loss of fat and muscle mass. This syndrome has also been associated with poorer survival rates for cancer patients. As such, both sarcopenia and cachexia constitute potentially modifiable risk factors of negative surgical outcomes.
This study aimed to examine the prevalence of preoperative sarcopenia and cachexia in a group of older (≥65 years) vulnerable patients undergoing resection for localized CRC.
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