Assessment of sarcopenic obesity and comparision of diagnostic methods in adults and elderly

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sarcopenic obesity and to compare diagnostic methods in adults and elderly. The study had been made between 2015 September and 2016 July with 423 individuals aged 40 years and over living in the Ankara. The age average of the participants was 55.1±9.90 (40-88) years. The sarcopenia diagnosis was based on the diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia, which was published in the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) in 2010. According to this, only one person had been specified as sarcopenic among the 423 people. For the diagnosis of obesity, the Body Mass Index (BMI) value of over 30 kg/m2 determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the cut-off point was used. Although 39.4% (137) of total population (423 people) has specified as obese, none of them is sarcopenic. For that reason, no sarcopenic obese was found, as a result of this study. At the beginning of the study, it was aimed to compare the Dual Energy X Ray Absorptiometer (DEXA) and Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA) used in the diagnosis of sarcopenic obesity, but this comparison was not possible because of the lack of participation in sarcopenic obesity. Because of the lack of sarcopenic obese participants, participants were divided into 4 groups according to obesity and muscle strength status, and comparative analyzes were made among these groups. These groups were non-obese adequate muscle strength, non-obese inadequate muscle strength, obese adequate muscle strength, obese and inadequate muscle strength. The people in the study was found 46.6% non-obese and adequate muscle strength, 13.9% non-obese and inadequate muscle strength, 27.2% obese and adequate muscle strength, 12.3% obese and inadequate muscle strength. According to this classification, 36.4% of the people inadequate walking speed were both obese and muscle strength inadequate. It is found a significant corelation between walking speed and obesity and muscle strength (p<0.05). The percentage of body fat mass was 40.1±3.49% in the group which was both obese and inadequate ix muscle strength. The mean energy intake was 1740.0 ± 515.67 kcal in the non-obese and muscular strength group, and 1581.2 ± 457.94 kcal in the obese and inadequate muscle strength group. The mean percentage of carbohydrate, protein and fat intake was 36.7±10.66, 15.4±21.0, 47.7±10.22 respectively, in the group with in the obese and inadequate muscle strength. There was statistically significant correlation between energy, total fat, saturated fatty acid intake and obesity and muscle strength groups of individuals (p <0.05). Between muscle strength, muscle mass and consumption of energy (kcal), carbohydrate (g), protein (g), total fat (g), saturated fatty acid (%), monounsaturated fatty acid (%), cholesterol) was positively and statistically significant. In conclusion, it was not determined sarcopenic obese in the study population depending on EWGSOP and WHO criteria, but it was determined that 12.3 % of the people is obese and muscle strength is inadequate in terms of the classification depending on muscle strength, which is one of the criteria of sarcopenia. It is necessary to increase the number of studies conducted in this area, to determine the criteria for diagnosis of sarcopenic obesity to make international comparisons and to define the treatment protocols, especially nutritional therapy.