Title : Determination of morphological and functional muscle quality in an open population over 65 years
Abstract:
Introduction: Muscle quality refers to the union of the structural and functional characteristics of the muscle. It is made up of various factors such as strength, power, resistance and flexibility. Muscular quality is divided into two domains: a functional and morphological domain.
Purpose: To know the association between the evaluation of morphological and functional muscle quality, with functionality, and muscle performance in adults over 65 years.
Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional and analytical study. People over 65 years of age were studied, who agreed to participate after signing informed consent. For statistical analyses, measures of central tendency, dispersion and correlations (Pearson) were used. Gait speed, sit to stand, grip strength, densitometry, isokinesia and ultrasound were analyzed.
Results: 34 people were included, 27 women (80%) and 7 men (20%), average age of 70.52 years. 23.5% of the studied population presented sarcopenia. When comparing the averages of the muscle quality index in the healthy group and those with sarcopenia, a significant difference was observed between both. Regarding the maximum right force, a significant difference is also observed with a large effect size. Some isokinesia and ultrasound variables have moderate but statistically significant correlations.
Conclusions: When applying the cut-off points for muscle quality, we observed that it could represent a tool for identifying patients with sarcopenia, By finding significant differences between the groups for texture analysis, we interpret that this difference for force generation is related to changes in muscle morphology. Measurements of muscle quality, grip strength and texture analysis emerge as useful tools for functional muscle evaluation. More research is required to identify the most significant determinants for evaluation and simplify it.
