Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Human Performance

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Symptoms of Sarcopenia and Physical Fitness through the Senior Fitness Test

Publication . Lima, Alex Barreto de; Baptista, Fátima; Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Pinto, André de Araújo; Gouveia, Élvio Rúbio

t: Introduction: Physical fitness concerns a set of attributes related to the ability to perform physical activity that may justify the symptoms reported by the elderly in the context of sarcopenia. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the perception (symptomatology) of physical functioning (what the person thinks they are capable of) and the capacity itself for physical functioning in elderly people in northern Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional study that analyzed 312 elderly people (72.6 ± 7.8 years) from the city of Novo Aripuanã, Amazonas, Brazil. Sarcopenia symptomatology was assessed using the SARC-F, a 5-item questionnaire designed for screening sarcopenia in older individuals in five domains: strength, walking aids, difficulty getting up from a chair, difficulty climbing stairs, and falls. Physical fitness was assessed by the Senior Fitness Test (SFT) battery including balance evaluated with the short version of the Fullerton Advanced Balance scale (FAB). Results: ROC curve analysis revealed that the tests with the greatest ability to discriminate participants with significant symptoms for sarcopenia (≥4 points on SARC-F) were arm curl and 6 min walk: the probability of suspected sarcopenia increased exponentially with an arm curl < 11.5 reps for men (se = 71%; sp = 69%; AUC = 0.706, 95% CI: 0.612–0.788; p = 0.013) and women (se = 81%; sp = 51%; AUC = 0.671, 95% CI: 0.601–0.735; p ≤ 0.001) or with a 6-min walk <408.5 m for men (se = 71%; sp = 63%; AUC = 0.720, 95% CI: 0.628–0.690; p = 0.001) and <366.0 m for women (se = 69%; sp = 58%; AUC = 0.692, 95% CI: 0.623–0.755; p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Physical fitness assessed through the senior fitness test, particularly the 30-s-arm curl test and the 6-min walk test, can discriminate for suspected symptoms of sarcopenia.

2023Journal article

Open access

Muscle Weakness and Walking Slowness for the Identification of Sarcopenia in the Older Adults from Northern Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study

Publication . Lima, Alex Barreto de; Henriques-Neto, Duarte; Ribeiro, Gustavo dos Santos; Gouveia, Élvio Rúbio; Baptista, Fátima

Background: This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of sarcopenia in elderly people from Northern Brazil according to muscle weakness or walking slowness. Methods: The sample consisted of 312 elderly people (72.6 ± 7.8 years). For walking slowness, a gait speed ≤ 0.8 m/s was used as a cut-off value, and for muscle weakness the following handgrip strength criteria were used for men and women, respectively: CI: <27.0/16.0 kg; CII: <35.5/20.0 kg; CIII: grip strength corrected for body mass index (BMI) < 1.05/0.79; CIV: grip strength corrected for total fat mass: <1.66/0.65; CV: grip strength corrected for body mass: <0.45/0.34. Results: Walking speed was reduced in 27.0% of women and 15.2% of men (p < 0.05). According to grip strength criteria, 28.5% of women and 30.4% of men (CI), 58.0% of women and 75.0% of men (CII), 66.0% of women and 39.3% of men (CIII), 28.8% of women and 19.6% of men (CIV), and 56.5% of women and 50.0% of men (CV) were identified as having sarcopenia. Conclusions: Walking slowness is more prevalent in women and muscle weakness is more prevalent in men in Northern Brazil. Walking slowness proved to be more concordant with muscle weakness in both sexes when the CI for handgrip strength was adopted.

2022Journal article

Open access