Associations between sarcopenia and degenerative lumbar scoliosis in older women

• Published in: Scoliosis and spinal disorders 2017-03, Vol.12 (1), p.9-9, Article 9
• Main Authors: Eguchi, Yawara, Suzuki, Munetaka, Yamanaka, Hajime, Tamai, Hiroshi, Kobayashi, Tatsuya, Orita, Sumihisa, Yamauchi, Kazuyo, Suzuki, Miyako, Inage, Kazuhide, Fujimoto, Kazuki, Kanamoto, Hirohito, Abe, Koki, Aoki, Yasuchika, Toyone, Tomoaki, Ozawa, Tomoyuki, Takahashi, Kazuhisa, Ohtori, Seiji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Adults; Age; Aging; Back pain; Back surgery; Degenerative disc disease; Joint surgery; Musculoskeletal system; Patients; Sarcopenia; Scoliosis; Surgery; Vertebrae; Women
• ISSN: 2397-1789; 2397-1789
• DOI: 10.1186/s13013-017-0116-0

Age-related sarcopenia can cause various forms of physical disabilities. We investigated how sarcopenia affects degenerative lumbar scoliosis (DLS) and lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS). Subjects comprised 40 elderly women (mean age 74 years) with spinal disease whose chief complaints were low back pain and lower limb pain. They included 15 cases of DLS (mean 74.8 years) and 25 cases of LSCS (mean age 72.9 years). We performed whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to analyze body composition, including appendicular and trunk skeletal muscle mass index (SMI; lean mass (kg)/height (m) ) and bone mineral density (BMD). A diagnostic criterion for sarcopenia was an appendicular SMI 10° and a sagittal vertical axis (SVA) >50 mm. Sarcopenia prevalence, correlations between spinal alignment, BMD, and clinical symptoms with appendicular and trunk SMIs, and correlation between spinal alignment and clinical symptoms were investigated. DLS cases had significantly lower body weight, BMI, lean mass arm, and total lean mass than LSCS cases. Sarcopenia prevalence rates were 4/25 cases (16%) in LSCS and 7/15 cases (46.6%) in DLS, revealing a high prevalence in DLS. Appendicular SMIs were DLS 5.61 and LSCS 6.13 (