Investigation of the relationship between osteoporosis with sarcopenia and low muscle strength in geriatric cases

Objective: Osteoporosis and sarcopenia are important health problems that especially affect older adults. Both can cause falls, fractures, increased hospitalizations, economic burden and death. In this study, the relationship between osteoporosis and sarcopenia was investigated. Method: The files of patients older than 65 years who were admitted to the Department of Geriatrics of Dokuz Eylul University between July/2016-July/2017 were retrospectively reviewed. 444 patients without exclusion criteria; who had DEXA measurement, hand grip strength, 4-meter gait speed, bioimpedance analysis were included in the study. Demographic characteristics, comorbidities, number of drugs and laboratory findings were evaluated. While WHO criteria used for osteoporosis, EGWSOP-2 criteria used for sarcopenia. Results:. The mean age of the patients were 75.88±7.20. 80.9% of the patients were female. The number of patients diagnosed with osteoporosis and osteopenia were 144 and 230 respectively. While 82 patients had possible sarcopenia, 51 patients had sarcopenia and 61 patients had severe sarcopenia. Age, sex, BMI, education year, vitamin D levels were associated with osteoporosis.(p<0.05)When the confounding effect of age, sex, BMI adjusted; osteoporosis was related to sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia.(p<0.005)Osteoporosis was associated with low muscle strength and low walking speed.(p<0,02)When diagnosis of osteoporosis was based on BMD measurements of femur neck alone, osteoporosis was closely related to both low muscle strength and walking speed(p<0.001); moreover, low muscle strength was associated with osteopenia.(p<0.02) Conclusion: In this study, osteoporosis was associated with sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia in geriatric patients. Furthermore, both osteopenia and osteoporosis at femur neck was associated with low muscle strength. Keywords: Sarcopenia, osteoporosis, falls, disability