Background:

the definition and methodology recommended for the diagnosis of sarcopenia has been changing. The mostly applied consensus is the one published by the European Working Group in Older People in 2010 (EWGSOP1), which was updated in 2019 (EWGSOP2).

Objectives:

assessing the prevalence of sarcopenia in institutionalized older adults using the EWGSOP2 algorithm and comparing these results with the EWGSOP1 algorithm results.

Methods:

in order to diagnose sarcopenia, muscle mass was assessed using an impedanciometer, muscle strength with a dynamometer and walking speed over a four-meter course. For the comparison of the results, a sensitivity and specificity analysis were performed with the version 20 of SPSS.

Results:

according to the EWGSOP2, 60.1% of the participants had sarcopenia and 58.1% had severe sarcopenia, results with no statistical differences when they are compared to the results according to the EWGSOP1 (63% had sarcopenia and 61.2%, severe sarcopenia). Neither were statistical differences found when comparing subjects with low muscle mass according to the formulas suggested by both consensus, while there were differences when comparing subjects with low muscle strength due to the variation of cut-off points.

Conclusions:

the prevalence of sarcopenia in institutionalized older adults is high, being remarkable that the majority of the participants had low muscle strength and low physical performance. The utilization of the methodology proposed by the EWGSOP2 did not have influence in the results of prevalence of sarcopenia obtained when the EWGSOP1 recommendations were applied.

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