Montreal Researchers Probe Muscle-Loss Disease in Seniors

A study published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia, and Muscle detailed how researchers at McGill University Health Center authored new criteria for better diagnosing sarcopenia, which causes loss of muscle mass in older adults, reports the Montreal Gazette . "Healthy lifestyle could definitely contribute to delaying the effects of the disease," says McGill's Stéphanie Chevalier. "We are working to determine the best preventive approaches." The scientists learned about 22 percent of Canadian Caucasians who are at least 65 years old have sarcopenia, while about a quarter have dynapenia, which erodes muscle strength. Six percent suffer both these afflictions. Previous sarcopenia/dynapenia diagnosis criteria were found to be arbitrary and less precise, and the team set up new cut-off points based on data culled from 9,000 adults aged 65 to 86. Chevalier thinks the new criteria can help doctors "predict who among people having low muscle mass will also have lower physical function and lower physical strength."