The significance of body mass index in calculating the cut-off points for low muscle mass in the elderly: methodological issues

Polish Translation and Validation of the Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment (MSRA) Questionnaire to Assess Nutritional and Non-Nutritional Risk Factors of Sarcopenia in Older Adults

A simple, short, cheap, and reasonably sensitive and specific screening tool assessing both nutritional and non-nutritional risk factors for sarcopenia is needed. Potentially, such a tool may be the Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment (MSRA) Questionnaire, which is available in a seven-item (MSRA-7) and five-item (MSRA-5) version. The study's aim was Polish translation and validation of both MSRA versions in 160 volunteers aged ≥60 years. MSRA was validated against the six sets of international diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia used as the reference standards. PL-MSRA-7 and PL-MSRA-5 both had high sensitivity (≥84.9%), regardless of the reference standard. The PL-MSRA-5 had better specificity (44.7-47.2%) than the PL-MSRA-7 (33.1-34.7%). Both questionnaires had similarly low positive predictive value (PL-MSRA-5: 17.9-29.5%; PL-MSRA-7: 14.4-25.2%). The negative predictive value was generally high for both questionnaires (PL-MSRA-7: 89.8-95.9%; PL-MSRA-5: 92.3-98.5%). PL-MSRA-5 had higher accuracy than the PL-MSRA-7 (50.0-55% vs. 39.4-45%, respectively). Based on the results, the Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment questionnaire was successfully adopted to the Polish language and validated in community-dwelling older adults from Poland. When compared with PL-MSRA-7, PL-MSRA-5 is a better tool for sarcopenia risk assessment.

Polish version of SARC-F to assess sarcopenia in older adults: An examination of reliability and validity

INTRODUCTION

SARC-F is a quick questionnaire recommended as a screening tool for sarcopenia. The aim of the study was to translate, adapt, and validate the Polish version of the SARC-F for community-dwelling older adults in Poland.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We included 160 Polish volunteers aged ≥ 60 years (44% of men). The Polish version of SARC-F was adapted following standardized forward-backward translation procedure. SARC-F was validated against the six sets of diagnostic criteria as the reference standards [developed independently by European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People1 (EWGSOP1), European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People2 (EWGSOP2), Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Sarcopenia Project, Asia Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS), the International Working Group for Sarcopenia (IWGS), and Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD)].

RESULTS

SARC-F score ≥ 4 points was observed in 18.8% of the study population. Cronbach's alpha was 0.70. The sensitivity of SARC-F varied from 33.3% to 50.0% depending on the diagnostics criteria used, while the specificity was about 85%. Positive predictive value (PPV) was low (about 30%) for five out of six sets of the diagnostic criteria used (EWGSOP2, IWGS, AWGS, FNIH, and SCWD), while the negative predictive value (NPV) was generally high (>88%). The area under the ROC curves (AUC) was 0.652-0.728. SARC-F had the largest AUC against FNIH criteria (0.728), indicating a moderate diagnostic accuracy. Similar results were found for EWGSOP2 and IWGS criteria. The AUC values were below 0.7 for AWGS, SCWD, and EWGSOP1 criteria.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results, the Polish version of SARC-F shows excellent reliability and good internal consistency. High specificity and high NPV make SARC-F a useful tool to rule-out sarcopenia with high accuracy in community-dwelling older adults, independently of the diagnostic criteria used.

Z-score of the log-transformed A Body Shape Index predicts low muscle mass in population with abdominal obesity: The U.S. and Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Sarcopenic obesity is associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic disease and mortality than either sarcopenia or obesity alone. However, no study has investigated body shape indices for the assessment of sarcopenia in obese populations. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of body shape indices to assess sarcopenia in nationally representative populations with abdominal obesity.

METHODS

Data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (U.S. NHANES) 1999-2006 and Korea NHANES (KNHANES) 2008-2011 were assessed. The association between Body Shape Index and sarcopenia was analyzed using a receiver operating characteristic curve. The Z-score of the log-transformed A Body Shape Index (LBSIZ) cut-off value was defined as that with the highest score of the Youden's index. Changes in odds ratios (OR) for sarcopenia were investigated using restricted cubic spline (RCS) plots.

RESULTS

This study included 8,013 American and 4,859 Korean adults with abdominal obesity. The overall area under the curve (AUC) of LBSIZ for sarcopenia was 0.816 (95% CI: 0.794-0.838) in U.S. NHANES and 0.822 (95% CI: 0.799-0.844) in KNHANES, which was higher than that of the body roundness index, conicity index, and waist to height ratio (p with DeLong's test <0.001). The cut-off values for the LBSIZ were 1.05 (sensitivity, 88.0%; specificity, 81.5%) for American men, 0.45 (sensitivity, 77.1%; specificity, 70.6%) for American women, 1.15 (sensitivity, 77.5%; specificity, 77.1%) for Korean men and 0.95 (sensitivity, 74.3%; specificity, 69.3%) for Korean women in the development groups. Comparable results were verified in validation groups. The RCS plot indicated that ORs for sarcopenia rapidly increased with an increase in the LBSIZ cut-off value.

CONCLUSION

The increased LBSIZ could function as a reliable and cost-effective screening tool for assessing low muscle mass in populations with abdominal obesity.

Comparison of four sarcopenia screening questionnaires in community-dwelling older adults from Poland using six sets of international diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia

INTRODUCTION

There are four screening sarcopenia questionnaires (SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, MSRA-7). To unambiguously determine which of them is the most effective tool in community-dwelling older adults, we performed a diagnostic accuracy study. The aim of the analysis was to assess the diagnostic values of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, MSRA-7 and compare their psychometric properties against six criterion standards (EWGSOP1, EWGSOP2, FNIH, AWGS, IWGS, SCWD criteria).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We included 100 community-dwelling volunteers aged ≥ 65yrs. The sensitivity/specificity analyses were performed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curves (AUC) were calculated to compare the overall diagnostic accuracy of the four questionnaires. Ideal screening tools should have reasonably high sensitivity and specificity, and an AUC value above 0.7.

RESULTS

With respect to the six criterion standards used, the sensitivity of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, and MSRA-7 ranged 35.0-90.0%, 20.0-75.0%, 64.7-90.0%, 76.5-91.7%, respectively, whereas the specificity ranged 86.9-91.1%, 80.0-90.0%, 45.8-48.8%, 28.9-31.0% respectively. The AUCs of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, and MSRA-7 ranged from 0.655-0.882, 0.711-0.874, 0.618-0.782 and 0.588-0.711 respectively. Only SARC-CalF had AUC >0.7 and <0.9 against the six criterion standards but obesity was a confounding factor, which may affect the diagnostic power of SARC-CalF. MSRA-7 had the smallest AUC of all the questionnaires and MSRA-5 had slightly larger AUC than MSRA-7.

CONCLUSION

Based on our analysis, the standard sarcopenia screening questionnaires deliver contradictory results in many practically occurring cases. It appears that SARC-CalF is an optimal choice for screening sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults.

The Effect of a 12-Week Omega-3 Supplementation on Body Composition, Muscle Strength and Physical Performance in Elderly Individuals with Decreased Muscle Mass

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of a polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (PUFA) supplementation on the parameters of body composition, muscle strength and physical performance in elderly people with decreased muscle mass (DMM). Fifty three elderly people with an ALM index (the ratio of appendicular lean mass to squared height) either below (-2SD: low muscle mass-LMM) or between (-1SD and -2SD: the risk of LMM-rLMM) the ALM index for the young Polish reference population were randomly assigned to PUFA-treated groups (LMM-PUFA, rLMM-PUFA) or control groups (LMM-control, rLMM-control). PUFA-treated groups received capsules containing 1.3 g of PUFA and 10 mg of vitamin E, while the control groups received 11 mg of vitamin E daily for 12 weeks. Body composition (BIA analysis), muscle strength (hand grip measured with dynamometer) and physical performance (Timed Up and Go test-TUG) were assessed before and after supplementation. No statistically significant differences were observed either in muscle mass or in the hand grip and TUG in any group. The post-pre difference (mean ± SD) in ALM index was as follows (kg/m²): LMM-PUFA: 0.00 ± 0.30, rLMM-PUFA: 0.00 ± 0.22, LMM-control: 0.03 ± 0.36, rLMM-control: -0.03 ± 0.20. In our study, a 12 week supplementation of PUFA did not affect the evaluated parameters in elderly individuals with DMM.