Anthropometric indicators as predictors of dynapenia in older people: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Due to ageing, older people become more prone to dynapenia, which increases the risk of mortality. It is therefore essential to propose low-cost tools to screen for this outcome. Objective: To analyze the predictive capacity of anthropometric indicators for screening dynapenia in older people. Methods: A cross-sectional census epidemiological study of 196 older people. The predictors listed were: body mass index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), calf circumference (CC), arm muscle circumference and corrected arm muscle area. Student's t or Mann-Whitney U tests (comparisons) and the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (predictive capacity) were used in the analyses. A significance level of 5% was adopted for all analyses. Results: The prevalence of dynapenia was in the order of 26.60% in older men and 24.80% in older women. It was also observed that older people with dynapenia had lower values in anthropometric indicators when compared to those without dynapenia (p < 0.05). In older men, the indicator most sensitive to dynapenia was BMI (71.43%), while the most specific was AC (93.10%). Among older women, the indicator most sensitive to dynapenia was CC (76.92%) and the most specific was AC (77.27%). Conclusion: BMI and CC were found to be better at screening older men and older women for dynapenia, respectively. In addition, AC was the indicator that best identified older people of both sexes without the outcome.