The association of sarcopenia with depressive symptoms and functional status among elderly persons

Sarcopenia, functional dependence and depression are among the geriatric syndromes. The aim of this study to determine the association of sarcopenia with depression and functional status among elderly persons. The prevalence of functional dependence and depression is about 15% in the community-dwelling elderly, while sarcopenia prevalence is 10%. Because of prevalence of sarcopenia is lower than the prevalence of functional dependence and depression we used the another pillar of our project "Prevalence of sarcopenia and factors related to sarcopenia in the community-dwelling elderly" for the research sample size. Minimum sample size was calculated by assuming sarcopenia prevalence is 10% with 2% error and confidence limit. Twenty percent of this minimum sample size was added for non-response. One thousand and seven individuals were targeted to enroll into the study. Dependent variables were depressive symptoms and functional status. Geriatric Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Basic Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scales were used to measure functional status. The independent variable is sarcopenia, and diagnosis was made on the basis of European Working Group on Sarcopenia for Older People algorithm- EWGSOP. Possible confounding factors were socio-demographic and economic features, healty life behaviours, health condition and habits. Data were collected by interviewers at home with face-to-face interview and analysed using Chi-Square, Fisher's Exact and logistic regression analysis. 90.3% of the population was interviewed. Mean age is 72.2±5.8 (65-100). 58.9% were female (n=507). The prevalence depressive symptoms is 25.2% (31.8% in females, 15.8% in males). As Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scales, the prevalence of functional dependence is 21.7% (31.0% in female, 8.5% in male). The prevalence of sarcopenia is 4.6% (47.5% in female, 52.5% in male). According to univariate analysis there isn't significant correlation between who have depressive symptoms and who haven't depressive symptoms in the elderly (p=0.27); there is significant correlation between who were functional dependence and who were functional independent in the elderly (p=0.01). When all the results are evaluated, according to multivariate analysis sarcopenia is associated with depression (OR=2.55, p=0.03, 95% CI=1.11-5.88) and functional status (OR=2.91, p=0.02, 95% CI=1.18-7.17) among elderly persons.