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Title: The impact of sarcopenia on a physical activity intervention: the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Pilot Study (LIFE-P)

Author
item LIU, CHRISTINE - Boston University
item LENG, XIAOYAN - Wake Forest University
item KRITCHEVSKY, STEPHEN - Wake Forest University
item DING, JINGZHONG - Wake Forest University
item EARNEST, CONRAD - Pennington Biomedical Research Center
item FERRUCCI, LUIGI - National Institute On Aging (NIA, NIH)
item GOODPASTER, BRET - University Of Pittsburgh
item GURALNIK, JACK - University Of Pittsburgh
item LENCHICK, LEON - Wake Forest University
item PAHOR, MARCO - University Of Florida
item FIELDING, ROGER - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University

Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2013
Publication Date: 1/1/2014
Citation: Liu, C.K., Leng, X.I., Kritchevsky, S.B., Ding, J., Earnest, C.P., Ferrucci, L., Goodpaster, B.H., Guralnik, J.M., Lenchick, L., Pahor, M., Fielding, R.A. 2014. The impact of sarcopenia on a physical activity intervention: the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Pilot Study (LIFE-P). Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging. 18(1):59-64.

Interpretive Summary: As people age, there is a natural decrease in the amount of muscle each person has. For unknown reasons, some persons lose more muscle mass than others, resulting in a condition called “sarcopenia.” Having sarcopenia is concerning, as the lack of muscle may mean that these persons may not gain the health benefits from exercise. Using data from a study of older adults who underwent an exercise program for a year, we found older adults with sarcopenia still gained benefits from exercise when we measured their general physical function.

Technical Abstract: To determine if sarcopenia modulates the response to a physical activity intervention in functionally limited older adults. Design: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Setting: three academic centers. Participants: elders aged 70 to 89 years at risk for mobility disability who underwent dualenergy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for body composition at enrollment and follow-up at twelve months (n = 177). Subjects participated in a physical activity program (PA) featuring aerobic, strength, balance, and flexibility training, or a successful aging (SA) educational program about healthy aging. Sarcopenia as determined by measuring appendicular lean mass and adjusting for height and total body fat mass (residuals method), Short Physical Performance Battery score (SPPB), and gait speed determined on 400 meter course. At twelve months, sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic subjects in PA tended to have higher mean SPPB scores (8.7+/-0.5 and 8.7+/-0.2 points) compared to sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic subjects in SA (8.3+/-0.5 and 8.4+/-0.2 points, p = 0.24 and 0.10), although the differences were not statistically significant. At twelve months, faster mean gait speeds were observed in PA: 0.93+/-0.4 and 0.95+/-0.03 meters/second in sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic PA subjects, and 0.89+/-0.4 and 0.91+/-0.03 meters/second in sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic SA subjects (p = 0.98 and 0.26), although not statistically significant. There was no difference between the sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic groups in intervention adherence or number of adverse events. These data suggest that older adults with sarcopenia, who represent a vulnerable segment of the elder population, are capable of improvements in physical performance after a physical activity intervention.