10 days in a hospital bed leads to 10 years’ worth of lost muscle mass in people over age 80

Dan Thomas is an ST6 working in Liverpool. He is the BGS Clinical Quality Group Trainee Rep and the Deputy Media Editor. He tweets @dan26wales

‘10 days in a hospital bed leads to 10 years’ worth of lost muscle mass in people over age 80’

I have lost count of the number of times I have quoted this fact, I use it when teaching on frailty, and I have used it when assessing people in the emergency department to explain the risks of hospital induced deconditioning. I regularly hear other Geriatricians use this fact. It is emblazoned across much of the #EndPJParalysis material, and is quoted (unreferenced) on the NHS improvement website.

Sarcopenia; a key driver of physical frailty

Miles Witham is a Clinical Reader in Ageing and Health, University of Dundee, and is Deputy Editor for Age and Ageing.

The BGS Autumn Meeting 2016 saw the launch of the newest BGS Special Interest Group – the Frailty and Sarcopenia Research SIG. The inaugural session, held in the main auditorium in Glasgow’s SECC was attended by several hundred delegates, and so far, over 100 members have signed up on-line to be part of the new SIG. So why do we need this SIG, and what do we hope it will achieve?

BGS raising the profile of Sarcopenia and Frailty in older people

Sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function that accompanies ageing, has emerged as a key topic in geriatric medicine and represents a rapidly expanding field of research. Prevalence may be as high as 1 in 3 for frail older people living in care homes. There is increasing appreciation of sarcopenia’s importance for an ageing population and a growing understanding of its causes. The condition is closely linked to physical frailty and detection of sarcopenia is beginning to be incorporated into clinical practice, and to undergo large clinical trials.

To better represent this area the British Geriatrics Society has announced the formation of a new Special Interest Group (SIG) focusing on sarcopenia and frailty research.

In addition, to help raise the profile and aid the recognition of sarcopenia, a dedicated session covering diagnosis and treatment of the disease is being held at the BGS Autumn Meeting in Glasgow.

Book review: Manual of Nutritional Therapeutics

Margot Gosney is Professor of Elderly Care Medicine at the University of Reading and Consultant Physician at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. Here she reviews the Manual of Nutritional Therapeutics.

The 6^th edition of this very detailed book has just been published: the fact that it has continued to be relevant and required reading since its first publication in 1983 indicates its usefulness. The American editors have gone out of their way to cover subjects not only in great detail, but also to provide very relevant and up to date references to support the chapters.

November issue of Age and Ageing journal out now

The November 2014 issue of Age and Ageing, the journal of the British Geriatrics Society is out now.

A full table of contents is available here, with editorials, research papers, reviews, short reports, case reports book reviews and more. Hot topics this issue include:

• Guidelines for management of frailty
• Systematic review on sarcopaenia
• Inappropriate drug use in older people
• Co-morbidities in dementia
• Cost-effectiveness of telecare

The Editor’s View can be read here.

This issue’s free access papers are:

• Best practice guidelines for the management of frailty: a British Geriatrics Society, Age UK and Royal College of General Practitioners report

• Cost-effectiveness of telecare for people with social care needs: the Whole Systems Demonstrator cluster randomised trial
• Prevalence of and interventions for sarcopenia in ageing adults: a systematic review. Report of the International Sarcopenia Initiative (EWGSOP and IWGS)

One third of care home residents may suffer muscle dysfunction

A new report published in Age & Ageing gives updated figures on the prevalence of sarcopenia (muscle dysfunction), and calls for active screening of older adults along with exercise programs to help manage the condition. The systematic review revealed new details around sarcopenia – an important health condition which is associated with an increased risk of falls and functional dependence.

The report shows that sarcopenia may affect as many as 1 in 20 adults, and up to 1 in 3 care home residents. These findings come from an international collaborative study, which uses a new international consensus definition of sarcopenia to draw together all the results from recent cutting-edge research.

The report also reveals that there are successful treatments available to manage the condition. Exercise interventions, including endurance and resistance training, appear to improve muscle strength and function, as do short term nutritional intervention trials using proteins, essential amino acids, leucine or beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate (although evidence from longer-term trials is sparse).

Frequent consumption of fruit and vegetables inversely associated with sarcopenia

Yunhwan Lee is a professor and Jinhee Kim is a research fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of Ajou University School of Medicine, and the Institute on Aging of Ajou University Medical Center in the Republic of Korea. His paper was recently published in Age and Ageing journal.

Sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass with age, is now widely recognised as a major health problem in late life. Older people with sarcopenia are prone to suffering from frailty, falls, and disability that negatively affects their quality of life. Because there is currently no effective treatment for sarcopenia, it is important to identify risk factors that have a modifiable influence on the condition.

Prevalence of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older people in the UK

Harnish Patel is a Consultant Geriatrician and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton.

Sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function with age is now recognised as a major clinical problem for older people. Sarcopenia is common and associated with serious health consequences in terms of frailty, disability, morbidity and mortality, not forgetting the high health care costs which have run into billions of dollars in the USA.

Research in the area is expanding exponentially.The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) recently published consensus guidelines on the definition and diagnosis of sarcopenia. This definition was an important development in sarcopenia research and has provided a systematic approach not only in case finding but also in understanding aetiology and developing treatments. Using the working group definitions we have, for the first time, estimated the prevalence of sarcopenia in the UK. In our paper, the prevalence of sarcopenia was estimated to affect 4.6% men and 7.9% women with an average age of 67 years – broadly comparable to international estimates.

May issue of Age and Ageing out now

The May 2013 issue of Age and Ageing, the journal of the British Geriatrics Society is out now.

A full table of contents is available here, with editorials, research papers, reviews, short reports, case reports book reviews and more. Hot topics this issue include:

• Pathogenesis and management of osteoarthritis
• Risk factors for abuse in older people
• The cost of stroke in Ireland
• Preventing iatrogenic illness
• Quality of life with advancing age

The Editor’s View article can be read here.

This issue’s free and open access paper are:

• Elder abuse: a systematic review of risk factors in community-dwelling elders
• Which part of the Quick mild cognitive impairment screen (Qmci) discriminates between normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment and dementia?
• Cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive decline in adults aged 50 and over: a population-based cohort study
• The transition to living alone and psychological distress in later life
• Prevalence of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older people in the UK using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) definition: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS).