Relationship between subclinical atherosclerosis andsarcopenia

Sarcopenia is a common syndrome which can be especially seen at advanced ages with decreased skeletal muscle strength and progressive generalization loss in muscle mass and physical performance. The risk of cardiovascular event has increased in sarcopenic patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance, which are skeletal muscle evaluation parameters, and carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT) and carotid distensibility (CD) from subclinical atherosclerosis markers. Between October 2018 and December 2019, a total of 280 people, 11 Multiple Sclerosis, 44 Dementia, 25 Parkinson's and 34 Neurovascular patients and 166 control groups, who applied to the Neurology Outpatient Clinic of our university and could provide ambulation and could become cooperative were included to the study. The percentage of sarcopenic individuals is 17.5% in the patient group, 18.1% in the control group and 17.9% among all participants. In our study, it is observed that left carotid IMT increased in the group with the reduced handgrip strength. When men are evaluated on its own merits, it is observed that the increase in IMT becomes more clear in the group with decreased muscle strength and the left CD parameters increases in men with the decreased muscle strength. Although in the group with decreased muscle mass there is an increased trend of IMT and CD compared to people with normal muscle mass, due to the low number of people with decreased muscle mass and the height of the participants' BMI (Body Mass Index) which plays role as a confounder, all differences could not be revealed in each parameter. According to SPPB (Short Physical Performance Battery) , an increase in parameters showing right CD and increase in bilateral IMT thickness and irregularity were detected in the group with decreased physical performance. Broad participation population based studies are needed to demonstrate the causality relationship between sarcopenia and subclinical atherosclerosis.