clinical focus are linked to other inflammatory type diseases , which we know are associated or can be harmful to muscle in itself .
Use it or lose it
The silent muscle disease affecting 1 in 5 older Australians .
Robin Daly interviewed by Eleanor Campbell
Do you have difficulty getting out of a chair , opening a jar or crossing the road ? If yes , you may be showing signs of sarcopenia , which causes the accelerated loss or failure of skeletal muscle mass and function .
An estimated 1 in 5 older Australians aged over 65 will live with the condition , and experts say we may see an increase in signs and symptoms as people sit more and move less due to COVID-19 .
Professor Robin Daly is the chair of exercise and ageing at Deakin University and the former president of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research . He said the disease is clinically underreported and unrecognised , meaning that early prevention is critical to avoiding development in later life .
Daly spoke with Aged Care Insite about the relatively unknown condition , how aged care professionals can identify it , and the simple strategies we can use to take control over our muscle health .
ACI : Can you tell us what sarcopenia is ? RD : Sarcopenia basically means a lack or a poverty of flesh . It ’ s essentially a skeletal muscle disease characterised by a progressive loss in muscle mass , strength and function . So it ’ s not just a normal age-related loss ; it really is an accelerated loss , which puts you below a threshold for muscle mass , strength and function , which will increase your risk of having various types of diseases or conditions .
What are some of the causes ? As we get older , we lose muscle , but probably the key factor is physical inactivity or a sedentary lifestyle . Our muscles like stimulation . They like movement . They like to be overloaded . And clearly , if you live a sedentary lifestyle , they ’ re not getting that level of stimulation required for them to maintain their mass strength and function . So that ’ s probably one of the biggest causes .
The second one is malnutrition or inadequate nutrition , particularly around dietary protein . Remember , our muscles are essentially made up of protein or amino acids , and as we get older our protein requirements increase compared to when we were younger .
Other factors include things like type two diabetes , various types of cancer that
Are people in a specific age bracket more at risk of developing this condition ? The prevalence increases pretty much as age increases . Around one in three , maybe one in five people aged 60 to 65-plus have probably got signs and symptoms of sarcopenia , but it really starts to accelerate in the 70 to 75-plus age group where probably half the population may have some form of sarcopenia , whether it ’ s low muscle mass or muscle strength .
Up to 75 per cent of elderly hospitalised people have some sarcopenia or have sarcopenia itself . But it can also occur in younger people or middle aged people who might be suffering various common chronic diseases or might have had repeated bouts of bedrest , where over the years they never really recovered their muscle function .
How does it affect someone ’ s quality of life and their ability to perform day-today tasks ? I think skeletal muscle , which is really what sarcopenia is all about , is perhaps really under-appreciated and under-recognised for its clinical importance . Everyone knows that muscle is important for locomotion . It helps us move . It ’ s clearly important for posture . Muscles are connected to bones and so cause strains on bones to keep them strong and healthy . They also help stabilise joints .
But what people perhaps don ’ t really understand is that muscle has unique metabolic functions and this unique capability to basically secrete these factors and communicate with other tissues and organs throughout the body . As a result , we know muscle is critically important for metabolic rate . Often people will undertake a weight loss diet , and they not only lose their fat but they lose their muscle as well , unless they do the appropriate exercise to maintain their muscle .
Muscle has various immune-type functions as well . So if we ’ ve got really low muscle mass , people tend to be more prone to infections and immunitytype issues or diseases . If people have low muscle mass and unfortunately have cancer , they have poorer outcomes and they have issues related to treatment toxicity when they ’ re undergoing chemotherapy , for example .
18 agedcareinsite . com . au