Our muscles play a major role in our bodies, from allowing us to move, maintaining our posture, and stabilizing our joints. But starting as early as age 30, we all begin to gradually lose muscle mass and strength. Some of us lose it more quickly because of a serious condition called sarcopenia, which becomes more common with age, affecting 10 to 20 percent of older adults.
It can lead to disability, loss of independence, more frequent hospitalizations, the need for long-term care, and even death. So why have you never heard of it? In large part, we tend to believe that our hearing, vision, and ability to move easily will naturally decline as we age.
The accelerated loss of muscle mass and strength that results from sarcopenia doesn't have to be inevitable, but it has been overlooked and undertreated. Many older adults don't realize that their difficulty climbing the stairs or getting out of their chair, may be due to sarcopenia. The good news is that in recent years, scientists and healthcare providers, have made major progress in understanding how the condition works, how to diagnose it, and how best to treat it.
So what causes sarcopenia? It's not always clear what causes sarcopenia. Many things can contribute to the development of sarcopenia.
Age-related changes in the body that we all experience to some degree, can contribute. This can include lower levels of certain hormones, declines in the body's ability to turn protein into muscle, increased inflammation, interference with the signals between the brain and the muscles, and other cellular changes. Environmental and lifestyle changes can also contribute to the development of sarcopenia, such as inactivity and lack of exercise, prolonged bedrest, loss of mobility, poor nutrition, dental and oral problems, and obesity.
It's important to note that even overweight or obese individuals, and those that are physically active, can be at risk for sarcopenia. Chronic diseases can also contribute to sarcopenia. These diseases can cause some of the cellular changes that lead to sarcopenia, or they may interfere with a person's ability to eat a healthy diet and get needed exercise.
How serious is sarcopenia? Loss of muscle mass can affect you in many ways. Besides obviously making you weaker, it can also affect your balance and ability to walk, weaken your bones and make you frail, increase fatigue, heighten your risk of disease, worsen existing conditions, cause weight gain, raise the risk of malnutrition, and more.
These can all lead to difficulty getting around, trouble performing normal daily activities, falls and bone fractures, increased disability, diminished quality of life, loss of independence, more and longer hospital visits, higher risk of post-surgical complications and lower rates of survival, and eventually the need for long-term care and institutionalization. It's also an expensive condition, increasing individual healthcare costs by more than $2,300 a year for every person with sarcopenia. This doesn't begin to include the costs that come with loss of independence, increased illness, and difficulty with everyday functioning.
How do you know if you have it? If you are age 65 or older, your healthcare provider should be watching for sarcopenia. Your provider may use questionnaires to assess your risk for sarcopenia, that ask you things like if you ever need to rest because of lack of strength, if your walking speed has slowed, if you have difficulty rising from chairs or climbing stairs, and if you have fallen.
They may use non-invasive tests to measure your muscle mass, strength, and performance, or to potentially find the cause of sarcopenia. How is sarcopenia treated? There are a number of potential treatments under development that could interfere with the cellular changes that lead to sarcopenia, or that address muscle function or fatigue from sarcopenia.
There are also treatments that can help with some potential underlying causes of sarcopenia, like malnutrition, cancer, and gastrointestinal disorders. Scientists have also found that exercise and nutritional interventions, that deliver healthy diets or nutritional supplements with key nutrients for muscle health, can slow the declines from sarcopenia, improve physical performance, and prevent future loss. Preventing sarcopenia can help you maintain function and avoid frailty.
So if you're over the age of 65, or think you may be at risk, make sure your healthcare professional is talking to you about sarcopenia, and discuss any symptoms or risk factors you or a loved one may have. True strength comes from taking charge of your health.
