The impact of the age range of young healthy reference population on the cut-off points for low muscle mass necessary for the diagnosis of sarcopenia.

OBJECTIVE: According to the consensus report published by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP), sarcopenia researchers should determine sex-specific cut-off points (COPs) for low muscle mass (LMM) in their respective countries. To this end, it is necessary to investigate young healthy adults' group (YHAG). As the EWGSOP hasn't specified any inclusion criteria for this group, there is a significant divergence in literature regarding the age range characterizing YHAG. Therefore, the primary aim of our study was to assess the impact of different YHAG age ranges on the calculated values of COPs for LMM. The secondary aims were to use the calculated COPs for evaluating the prevalence of sarcopenia among the older people from Poland.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: 1512 young healthy individuals were divided into six age subgroups: 20-30, 18-40, 18-39, 20-39, 20-40, and 20-35 years. The sex-specific COPs for LMM were calculated using the Appendicular Lean Mass index. The prevalence of sarcopenia was assessed in 468 older adults from Poland.
RESULTS: In the six age subgroups, six different COPs were obtained in the group of young women (ranging from 5.51 kg/m2 to 5.60 kg/m2), and three different COPs were found in the group of young men (ranging from 7.35 kg/m2 to 7.40 kg/m2). After applying the determined COPs, the overall prevalence of sarcopenia was found to range between 4.5% and 5.1%.
CONCLUSIONS: Since there are no guidelines establishing the YHAG age range, if multiple sex-specific COPs are obtained, the highest values should be applied in the diagnostic of sarcopenia to avoid the misclassification of patients with this disease.