Prevalence of sarcopenia, body composition and energy-protein intake of elderly from an integrated continuing care unit in Brazil
International Journal of Development Research
Prevalence of sarcopenia, body composition and energy-protein intake of elderly from an integrated continuing care unit in Brazil
Received 25th November, 2017; Received in revised form 23rd December, 2017; Accepted 19th January, 2018; Published online 28th February, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Camila Corage da Silva and Fabiane La Flor Ziegler Sanches. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sarcopenia is characterized by progressive loss of muscle mass and strength or function during the aging process, and has been recognized as a relevant factor for the occurrence of health problems. The objective of this study was to verify the prevalence of sarcopenia, the body composition and the energy-protein intake in hospitalized elderly. The studied elderly were admitted to the Integrated Continuing Care Unit of a Brazilian hospital. Prevalence was determined by the Skeletal Muscle Index, classifying it as absent, grade I or grade II sarcopenia, and food intake was evaluated at 3 times using a 24-h recall. Value p<0.05 was considered. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 58.3% at hospital admission, and increased to 62.5% at hospital discharge, being predominant in males and mostly classified as grade I. Energy-protein intake was significantly higher at hospital discharge in relation to admission, as was the amount of protein consumed at lunch. There was a prevalence of sarcopenia in the elderly studied, despite the progressive increase in energy-protein intake during hospitalization, demonstrating the importance of early identification through accessible methods and nutritional interventions.
