Table 1.
Characteristics classified by sarcopenia status of the study participants as determined by the principal component analysis
| Variable | Sarcopenia
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| No (n=892) MV± SD |
Yes (n=47) MV± SD |
P-value | |
| First principal component | 0.30±1.52 | −5.68±1.31 | <0.001 |
| Age (years) | 77.1±4.8 | 80.4±5.7 | <0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.2±3.4 | 27.6±4.5 | 0.526 |
| Body fat (%) | 30.1±6.5 | 32.1±7.9 | 0.039 |
| ASMM (kg) | 24.2±3.5 | 23.4±3.8 | 0.101 |
| SMI defined ASMM/height2 (kg/m2) | 8.00±0.73 | 7.81±0.85 | 0.088 |
| SMI defined ASMM/BMI (no unit) | 0.898±0.136 | 0.859±0.144 | 0.061 |
| Habitual gait velocity (m/s) | 1.24±0.21 | 0.87±0.23 | <0.001 |
| Handgrip strength (kg) | 36.28±7.4 | 29.2±6.6 | <0.001 |
| Total LLFDI (Index)a | 1.41±0.41 | 3.11±0.48 | <0.001 |
| Number of diseases (n) | 2.08±1.18 | 3.13±10.95 | <0.001 |
| Low trauma fracture incidence (%) | 2.1 | 8.5 | 0.024 |
| Limited by diseases (Index)b | 1.89±1.77 | 5.23±1.63 | <0.001 |
| Self-rated physical performance (Index)c | 4.89±1.27 | 2.83±1.40 | <0.001 |
| Autonomy/independency (Index)d | 1.71±0.73 | 4.02±0.57 | <0.001 |
| Upper/middle/lower social class (%) | 21/64/15 | 20/66/14 | 0.789 |
| High/moderate/low educational level (%) | 18/25/57 | 17/23/60 | 0.821 |
| Physical activity (Index)e | 4.61±1.46 | 2.66±1.45 | <0.001 |
| No sports or exercise (%) | 30.6 | 63.8 | <0.001 |
| Vegetarians (%) | 3.7 | 4.2 | 0.834 |
Notes:
a
Late Life Function and Disability Instrument22 (1) no complaints to (5) impossible;
b
Scale from (1) “not at all” to (7) “very severely limited”;
d
Scale from (1) “need no help at all” to (7) “need very much help to lead my life”;
Abbreviations: ASMM, appendicular skeletal muscle mass; BMI, body mass index; LLFDI, Late Life Function and Disability Instrument; MV, mean value; SMI, skeletal muscle mass index.