Sarcopenic obesity defined by the ESPEN and EASO consensus statement in older women: Risk of falls and bone mineral density implications.

Purpose: To apply the ESPEN-EASO diagnostic criteria for Sarcopenic Obesity (SO) in older women and to assess its association with the risk of falls, fear of falls (FOF), and bone mineral density (BMD).

Methods: After exclusion criteria, 232 women aged ≥60 years (68.2 ± 6.1) were enrolled in the study. Volunteers had handgrip strength (HGS; dynamometer) and body composition assessed by DXA before risk of falls was evaluated using the QuickScreen and FOF evaluated by the Falls Efficiency Scale. SO was defined according to the ESPEN-EASO algorithm, which includes reduced HGS and fat-free mass, and elevated fat mass.

Results: The prevalence of SO was 6.5 %, which was associated with a higher proportion of fallers in the previous year (X 6.2, P = 0.04), reduced reaction time (X 6.2, P = 0.04), reduced sit-to-stand performance (X 6.2, P = 0.04), and a higher probability of falls [ꭓ2(6) = 17.689, p = 0.004]. FOF was lower in the eutrophic group (ꭓ2(2) = 15,662, p < 0,001) than both the obesity (p = 0.001) and SO (p = 0.05) groups. For total and femoral neck BMD, the eutrophic group presented significantly lower values (1.05 and 0.79 g/cm) than the obesity group (1.10 and 0.87 g/cm), but similar to the SO group (1.02 and 0.83 g/cm). These results remained significant after adjustments for potential confounders.

Conclusions: SO specified by the ESPEN-EASO framework was associated with a higher risk of falls but not with increased FOF than obesity alone. The favorable influence of overweight and obesity on BMD seems to be attenuated in individuals with SO. Our findings support the clinical significance of the ESPEN-EASO definition.