Adverse effects of the coexistence of locomotive syndrome and sarcopenia on the walking ability and performance of activities of daily living in Japanese elderly females: a cross-sectional study.
Tomohiro Nishimura, Aiko Imai, Masahiro Fujimoto and 4 others
PMID 32184538WHAT IT FOUND
In Japanese elderly females, having both locomotive syndrome and sarcopenia was linked to slower Timed Up and Go times and worse daily activity scores than having locomotive syndrome alone or neither condition.
Key findings
019 of 10 participants with both locomotive syndrome and sarcopenia were high fall risk, compared with 3 of 30 with locomotive syndrome alone and 0 of 72 controls.
02Mean Timed Up and Go time was 17.5 ± 4.3 seconds in the coexistence group, compared with 8.4 ± 3.9 seconds in the locomotive syndrome alone group and 5.9 ± 1.1 seconds in the control group.
03Total Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence score was 8.0 ± 2.8 in the coexistence group, compared with 10.8 ± 2.8 in the locomotive syndrome alone group and 12.5 ± 0.8 in the control group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that locomotive syndrome or sarcopenia caused worse walking, fall risk, or daily activity. Only elderly females aged 75 years or older were included, and no elderly males were studied. No sarcopenia-alone group was classified, so the study cannot compare locomotive syndrome alone with sarcopenia alone. The sample was small, especially the coexistence group with 10 participants. The control group size is reported inconsistently as 75 in the methods and 72 in the tables. Some participants were hospitalized and had recovered from bone fracture, which may not represent all community-dwelling older people. Groups differed in age, with the coexistence group mean age 85.4 ± 7.1 years versus control mean age 75.6 ± 5.0 years, even though analyses adjusted for age.
Declared interests
Funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that either condition caused the poor walking or daily activity scores, or that treating one condition would improve the other. This was a cross-sectional study of elderly females, and it did not include a sarcopenia-alone group or test any intervention.