Sarcopenia is associated with lower quality of life scores among community-dwelling older Filipinos: Findings from a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

One in four older Filipinos has sarcopenia, which is linked to lower quality of life in physical and psychological domains.

Contribution

This study identifies sarcopenia's association with reduced quality of life in Filipino older adults using a cross-sectional design.

Findings

24.3% of older Filipinos met sarcopenia criteria.

Sarcopenia was linked to lower physical and psychological quality of life scores.

Findings suggest sarcopenia should be addressed in public health interventions.

Abstract

Sarcopenia, characterized by a progressive decline in muscle mass and strength, is a significant concern among older individuals, impacting their functionality and overall quality of life (QOL). The relationship between sarcopenia and QOL among Filipino older adults remains underexplored. Thus, the study aims to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and its association with the QOL of community-dwelling older adults in selected Philippine cities.

This cross-sectional study used convenience sampling in the selection of the cities. Participants were randomly selected from the list provided by each local city government.

536 apparently healthy community-dwelling Filipino older adults from three major islands in the Philippines.

Sarcopenia was determined using the 2019 Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria which is the presence of low muscle mass, plus low muscle strength, and/or low physical performance. Quality of life was assessed using the culturally-validated WHO-QOL short form questionnaire. Mixed Model logistic regression adjusted for covariates was performed to study the association of sarcopenia indicators to quality of life.

24.3 % of older Filipinos were found to have sarcopenia. Sarcopenic community-dwelling older adults had significantly decreased odds of attaining higher score in the physical domain (OR 0.63; 0.40–0.98), psychological domain (OR 0.55; CI 0.35–0.84), and overall quality of life (OR 0.57; CI 0.37–0.89) than the non-sarcopenic group.

One in four community-dwelling Filipino older adults met the sarcopenia criteria. Sarcopenia is associated with decreased QOL scores, particularly in the physical health and psychological health domains. Sarcopenia needs to be considered in the context of public health to come up with targeted nutrition and health interventions for improved QOL.

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