Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis

Abstract

Background

in 2010, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) published a sarcopenia definition that aimed to foster advances in identifying and caring for people with sarcopenia. In early 2018, the Working Group met again (EWGSOP2) to update the original definition in order to reflect scientific and clinical evidence that has built over the last decade. This paper presents our updated findings.

Objectives

to increase consistency of research design, clinical diagnoses and ultimately, care for people with sarcopenia.

Recommendations

sarcopenia is a muscle disease (muscle failure) rooted in adverse muscle changes that accrue across a lifetime; sarcopenia is common among adults of older age but can also occur earlier in life. In this updated consensus paper on sarcopenia, EWGSOP2: (1) focuses on low muscle strength as a key characteristic of sarcopenia, uses detection of low muscle quantity and quality to confirm the sarcopenia diagnosis, and identifies poor physical performance as indicative of severe sarcopenia; (2) updates the clinical algorithm that can be used for sarcopenia case-finding, diagnosis and confirmation, and severity determination and (3) provides clear cut-off points for measurements of variables that identify and characterise sarcopenia.

Conclusions

EWGSOP2's updated recommendations aim to increase awareness of sarcopenia and its risk. With these new recommendations, EWGSOP2 calls for healthcare professionals who treat patients at risk for sarcopenia to take actions that will promote early detection and treatment. We also encourage more research in the field of sarcopenia in order to prevent or delay adverse health outcomes that incur a heavy burden for patients and healthcare systems.

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Age Ageing

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Age Ageing

Journal ID (publisher-id): ageing

Title: Age and Ageing

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISSN (Print): 0002-0729

ISSN (Electronic): 1468-2834

Publication date (Print): January 2019

Publication date (Electronic): 24 September 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 24 September 2018

Volume: 48

Issue: 1

Pages: 16-31

Affiliations

[1 ]Servicio de Geriatría, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain

[2 ]Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

[3 ]Center for Geriatric Medicine, University Heidelberg, Agaplesion Bethanien Krankenhaus, Heidelberg, Germany

[4 ]Research Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France

[5 ]Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Economics, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

[6 ]Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Uppsala University, Uppsala, and Theme Ageing, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

[7 ]MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton; Southampton, UK; and Department of Epidemiology, University of Oxford, OX, UK

[8 ]Instituto di Medicina Interna e Geriatria, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy

[9 ]Department of Geriatrics, Hospital and University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

[10 ]NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

[11 ]Department of Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

[12 ]Department of Internal Medicine-Geriatrics, Institute for Biomedicine and Ageing, Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

[13 ]Department of Geriatrics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General Faculty Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

[14 ]Department Geriatrics, University of Antwerp, Ziekenhuisnetwerk Antwerpen (ZNA), Antwerp, Belgium

[15 ]Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; and the Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute; Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[16 ]Department of Medicine, Geriatric section, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

[17 ]Department of Gerontology and Department of Frailty in Ageing, Vrije University Brussel; Brussels, Belgium

[18 ]Geriatrician at the Teaching Hospital AZ Alma; Eeklo, Belgium; and University of Luxembourg; Luxembourg City, Luxenbourg

[19 ]Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università di Milano; Milan, Italy

[20 ]Geriatria, Accettazione geriatrica e Centro di ricerca per l’invecchiamento, IRCCS INRCA, Ancona, Italy

[21 ]Center for Metabolic Bone Diseases, University of Sheffield Medical School; Sheffield, UK and Institute for Health and Ageing, Australian Catholic University; Melbourne, Australia

[22 ]Geriatric Clinic Unit, Geriatric Rehabilitation Department, University-Hospital of Parma, Department of Medicine and Surgery

[23 ]Department of Ageing and Health, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust; London, UK

[24 ]Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, University of Geneva; Geneva, Switzerland

[25 ]Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Unit of Primary Health Care; Helsinki, Finland

[26 ]Bone and Cartilage Metabolism Unit, University of Liège; Liège, Belgium

[27 ]Department of Bone Disease, University of Geneva; Geneva, Switzerland

[28 ]Geriatrics Department, Parc Salut Mar. Rehabilitation Research Group, Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Barcelona, Spain

[29 ]Department of Health Services Research, Maastricht University; Maastricht, the Netherlands

Author notes

Address correspondence to: Alfonso J. Cruz-Jentoft, MD, Servicio de Geriatría, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Ctra. Colmenar, km 9.1, 28034 Madrid, Spain. Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]. Email: alfonsojose.cruz@ 123456salud.madrid.org

Article

Publisher ID: afy169

DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afy169

PMC ID: 6322506

PubMed ID: 30312372

Copyright statement: © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@ 123456oup.com

Page count

Pages: 16

Product

Funding

Funded by: European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2

Categories

Subject: Guidelines