Clinical Medicine Insights: Geriatrics

Sarcopenia, characterized by a progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength that occurs with advancing age, has been associated with falls, fracture, disability, and mortality. Depending on the definitions used, the prevalence in 60- to 80-year old population is reported as 0.9%–35.9%, while the prevalence ranges from 7%–70.0% in people older than 80 years. Sarcopenia has been associated with lower quality of life. Well-designed exercise interventions, particularly resistance training as well as nutritional supplementation, have been proved to improve muscle strength and performance in geriatric populations. Resistance training may also enhance quality of life. However, there are limited data on the effects of nutritional supplementation as an intervention on quality of life among individuals with sarcopenia. This review briefly summarizes the relationship between sarcopenia and quality of life and presents the potential of interventions to improve muscle quality, physical performance, and quality of life.