Abstract
The number of older people is rapidly growing worldwide. Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle mass and function that evolves to adverse health outcomes such as disability and loss of independence. Purpose: to compare body composition, muscle strength and microvascular function in older adults with and without sarcopenia. Methods: thirty-eight eutrophic inactive elderly, aged 72 ± 6 years, weight 65 ± 10 kg, mini mental state examination 25 ± 4 points, were classified as sarcopenic (n=12) and no sarcopenic (n=26), assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). All volunteers underwent assessments of body composition (DXA), handgrip strength, vascular reactivity [venous occlusion plethysmography (VOP)] and microvascular evaluation [nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC)]. Independent samples Student t-tests were used to compare variables between groups and Spearman correlations to compare microcirculation to body composition and handgrip strength. Significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Handgrip strength, muscle mass, L2-L4 bone mineral density and femoral neck were higher in no sarcopenic group. Likewise, baseline forearm blood flow and cappillary diameters were also higher in no sarcopenic group (p<0.05 for all comparisons). The results demonstrated reductions in muscle strength, bone mineral density and basal forearm blood flow in sarcopenia. Although no diferences were found in vascular reactivity and functional capillary density between groups, there were positive Spearman correlation coefficients between vascular reactivity and Handgrip strength or appendicular skeletal muscle mass or lean muscle mass as 0.34, 0.35 and 0.39, respectively. Conclusion: Independently of having Sarcopenia or not, better muscle strength and increased muscle mass were found with increasing vascular reactivity.