Bone Abstracts

Introduction: Advancing age is associated with decline in bone and muscle mass and quality. Sarcopenia, one of Geriatric syndromes, is defined as the age-associated loss of skeletal muscle mass and function resulting in disability, poor QOL and death.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its association with osteopenia/osteoporosis in Korean PMW.

Materials and methods: Subjects: total 225 Korean PMW over 50 years were enrolled in menopause clinic at Chung-Ang University hospital. The mean age of subjects was 61.6 years. The mean BMI was 23.7 kg/m² and the mean BMD T-score −1.36.

Method: Muscle mass was assessed by using the skeletal muscle mass index (SMI, appendicular muscle mass/height²) from the DXA scan of whole body, muscle strength by checking hand grip strength by dynamometer and physical performance by 4-m gait speed. Cut-off points in each variables were 5.5 kg/m² for SMI, 20 kg for handgrip strength and 0.8 m/s for gait speed. Diagnosis of sarcopenia and its stage was made according to EWGSOP recommendation.

Results: Abnormal values of SMI, handgrip strength and gait speed was shown in 19.5%. 36 and 8.5% respectively. Prevalence of abnormal values tends to be increased according to advancing age. Total 44 out of 225 PMW over 50 years (19.6%) revealed various stages of sarcopenia. 10. 2% revealed presarcopenia, 8.0% for sarcopenia, and 1.3% for severe sarcopenia. PMW aged 50–59 years showed 13.8% incidence of presarcopenia. After 70 years, 23.9% showed various stages of sarcopenia, including 13.0% of sarcopenia. Severe sarcopenia only showed in PMW over age of 70 years comprising 6.2%. PMW with various stages of sarcopenia showed abnormal bone status in 68.2%. Nearly 1/2 of sarcopenic PMW showed osteopenia and total three cases of severe sarcopenia was only shown in PMW with osteoporosis.

Conclusion: Nearly one out of five PMW over the age of 50 years in Korea showed various sarcopenic status. With advancing age, prevalence and severity of sarcopenic status tend to be increased. Over two out of three PMW with abnormal muscle mass showed abnormal bone status.