Sarcopenia Is Associated With Physical and Mental Components of Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults

Objectives: To estimate the association between sarcopenia and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort.

Setting: The Rural Frailty Study, a prospective study on the prevalence of frailty in rural settings in Mexico, with baseline and follow-up measurements conducted in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

Participants: Five hundred forty-three men and women older than 70 years.

Measurements: Information regarding demographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental status, dependency in activities of daily living, frailty, HRQoL, and other characteristics was obtained. Objective measurements of muscle strength and physical performance were grip strength using a manual hydraulic dynamometer and walking speed; measure of low muscle was by a calf circumference. Sarcopenia was defined according to the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People criteria. Physical and mental components of the HRQoL were measured through the Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey Questionnaire 36-Item Short Form.

Results: Prevalence of sarcopenia was 20.6% for severe and 15.8% for moderate. After adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics, severe sarcopenia was significantly and inversely associated with both the physical (β = -5.39; P = .010) and the mental components (β = -3.69; P = .057) of HRQoL when compared with pre- and nonsarcopenic individuals.

Conclusions: Our results on the association between sarcopenia and HRQoL suggest that the latter declines in the presence of severe sarcopenia in older adults. This finding highlights the relevance of the early detection of sarcopenia in older individuals, and even that its detection must be a part of routine diagnosis procedures.