Question: What is Sarcopenia?

Alex Munro answered on 15 Jun 2011:

There isn’t a single definition of sarcopenia at present; various scientists/groups of scientists have suggested definitions, and they are probably all quite similar.

For my PhD I have been ‘guided’ by a recent research paper (published in 2010) by Cruz-Jentoft et al., entitled ‘Sarcopenia: European consensus on definition and diagnosis…’ (you can read the whole paper if you go to Pub Med)…

This working group (of scientific organisations) first met in 2009 to try to answer various questions about sarcopenia, one of which is yours – what is sarcopenia?

They decided upon the following definition: ‘Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterised by progressive and generalised loss of skeletal muscle mass AND strength with a risk of adverse outcomes such as physical disability, poor quality of life and death’.