Cent Eur J Public Health 2023, 31(Suppl 1):S62-S68 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a7895

Use of bioimpedance in prevention of sarcopenia in the elderly

Mária Konečná¹, Janka Poráčová¹, Vincent Sedlák¹, Jana Gaľová¹, Andrea Babejová¹, Mária Zahatňanská², Tatiana Kimáková³, Melinda Nagy⁴, Renáta Bernátová⁵, Milan Bernát⁶, Marta Mydlárová Blaščáková¹

¹ Department of Biology, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

² Institute of Pedagogy, Andragogy and Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

³ Department of Public Health and Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic

⁴ Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovak Republic

⁵ Department of Natural Sciences and Technological Disciplines, Faculty of Education, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

⁶ Department of Physics, Mathematics and Technologies, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

Objectives: Physiological ageing is associated with major and progressive changes in body composition, particularly in the decline of fat-free mass, which puts older individuals at risk of geriatric syndromes such as sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. Bioimpedance analysis noninvasively allows the determination of body composition, thus being able to rapidly assess primary risk factors leading to sarcopenia prediction.

Methods: We conducted a study of 180 probands, 120 females (66.7%) with a mean age of 76.23 (SD = 9.29) years and 60 males (33.3%) with a mean age of 74.01 (SD = 8.99) years in cooperation with facilities for the elderly and with the inpatient department of the clinics of J.A. Reimann Hospital in Prešov. Body height, body weight, hip circumference, and waist circumference were determined by the anthropometric method, from which the values of the body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio were calculated. Active body mass, total body water, extracellular body water, intracellular body water, cell mass, body mass fat, body fat index, fat-free mass index, impedance at frequencies of 50 kHz, resistance, reactance, and phase angle were determined using the Quadscan 4000 Touch bioimpedance instrument. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM) and muscle mass (ASMM/Ht2) were calculated. The data obtained from anthropometric and bioimpedance measurements were processed in MS Excel 2000 and STATISTICA ver. 12. The difference of means in the studied groups was tested by the t-test.

Results: Presarcopenia was diagnosed in 12 (6.66%) probands out of 180 probands, of which were 3 (5%) men and 9 women (7.5%). Phase angle, ASMM and ASMM/Ht2 values were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in men and women with presarcopenia.

Conclusion: By introducing bioimpedance measurements into practice, it is possible to obtain results in a non-invasive way revealing possible presarcopenia in the elderly.

Keywords: phase angle, reactance, sarcopenia, bioimpedance, geriatrics

Received: May 25, 2023; Revised: December 15, 2023; Accepted: December 15, 2023; Published: December 31, 2023  Show citation