Table 2.

Prevalence of obesity and impaired muscle strength and odds-ratios for obesity associated with impaired muscle strength in four epidemiological studies of persons aged 65 years and older^†.

		Impaired strength		Not impaired muscle strength		Impaired vs. not impaired strength
	Mean age (SD)	Obese	Not obese	Obese	Not obese	OR (95 % CI) *
BLSA (N = 1026)	75.8 (7.1)
N (%)		45 (4.4)	296 (28.9)	114 (11.1)	571 (55.7)	1.95 (1.01-3.79)
Age-adjusted prevalence (%) male / female		M: 3.5 F: 6.6	M: 30.5 F: 28.2	M: 15.2 F: 9.4	M: 47.7 F: 59.0
Health 2000 Survey (N = 1413)	76.4 (7.6)
N (%)		129 (9.1)	335 (23.7)	267 (18.9)	682 (48.3)	2.62 (1.69-4.06)
Age-adjusted prevalence (%) male / female		M: 6.1 F: 11.0	M: 29.6 F: 20.0	M: 15.3 F: 21.2	M: 49.0 F: 47.8
InCHIANTI (N = 856)	74.3 (6.9)
N (%)		74 (8.6)	218 (25.5)	139 (16.2)	425 (49.7)	1.96 (1.17-3.30)
Age-adjusted prevalence (%) male / female		M: 6.3 F: 8.7	M: 30.5 F: 21.6	M: 13.6 F: 18.3	M: 50.6 F: 48.9
LASA (N = 1189)	75.8 (7.2)
N (%)		85 (7.2)	281 (23.6)	219 (18.4)	604 (50.8)	1.20 (0.74-1.95)
Age-adjusted prevalence (%) male / female		M: 5.1 F: 8.9	M: 26.2 F: 21.4	M: 11.3 F: 24.4	M: 57.4 F: 45.2

^*Adjusted for age, gender, body weight.

^†Details of the studies:

BLSA (Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging), USA (1959-2007) [104]:

Impaired strength: lower gender-specific tertile of hand grip strength (<33 kg in men and <20 kg in women); Obese: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²

Health 2000 Survey, Finland (2000-01) [105]:

Impaired strength: lower gender-specific tertile of hand grip strength (<322 N in men and <176 N in women); Obese: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²

InCHIANTI, Italy (1998-2000) [106]:

Impaired strength: lower gender-specific tertile of hand grip strength (<32 kg in men and <18 kg in women); Obese: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²

LASA (Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam), Netherlands (2001-02) [107, 108]:

Impaired strength: lower gender-specific tertile of hand grip strength (< 33 kg in men and < 20 kg in women); Obese: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²