Performance-based physical functioning in African-American and Caucasian women at midlife: considering body composition, quadriceps strength, and knee osteoarthritis.

In 2000, body composition, x-ray-defined knee osteoarthritis, and self-reported knee pain information from a cross-sectional, community-based study of 211 African-American and 669 Caucasian women in southeast Michigan (mean age, 47 years) was related to performance-based physical functioning measures to characterize development of functional limitations. Body composition was assessed with bioelectrical impedance. Functioning measures were gait assessment, timed walk, timed stair climb with and without videography, and isometric quadriceps strength.

Sarcopenia is related to physical functioning and leg strength in middle-aged women.

Background: In the aging process, loss of muscle is relatively continuous, but the initiation, timing, and amount of muscle loss that relate to functional compromise are poorly described. Also poorly understood is whether strength and functioning in aging are related to the amount of lean mass and its change as well as to the amount of fat mass and its change.

Methods: The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether 3-year lean and fat mass change predicted functional status in 712 African American and Caucasian women, aged 34-58 years.

A longitudinal study of the predictors of prevalence and severity of symptoms commonly associated with menopause.

Objective: To delineate the role of hormone levels, menopause status, exogenous hormone use, and personal characteristics in the changing prevalence and impact of menopause symptoms.

Design: Annual longitudinal data were from Michigan Bone Health Study enrollees aged 24 to 44 years at baseline and followed up for a 10-year period beginning in 1992. In self-administered interviews, women reported the presence of and degree of bother (values from 1 = low to 8 = high) for symptoms related to sexuality, vasomotor, sleep/fatigue, negative mood, hair/skin, and urinary problems.