Cross-sectional association of physical activity levels with risks of sarcopenia among older Taiwanese adults.

Objectives: The updated World Health Organization 2020 guidelines strongly recommend an optimal physical activity level of 150-300 min/week for older adults. However, few studies have examined the relationship between different levels of physical activity and sarcopenia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional associations between overall physical activity levels, gender, intensity, and the risk of sarcopenia among older Taiwanese adults.

Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional telephone survey of older adults (≥ 65 years) was conducted in Taiwan from October 2019 to January 2020. Participants were interviewed to collect self-reported data on their level of physical activity (measured by the Taiwanese version of the IPAQ-SF), sarcopenia risk (measured by the SARC-F questionnaire), and sociodemographics.

Results: A total of 1068 older adults were surveyed. Compared with the optimal physical activity level recommendations in the WHO guidelines and after adjusting for potential confounders and proposing an association independent of sedentary behavior, older adults with insufficient physical activity levels (< 150 min/week) were more likely to have a higher risk of sarcopenia (OR: 3.24; CI: 1.67-6.27), whereas older adults who exceeded physical activity guidelines (> 300 min/week) were more likely to have a lower risk of sarcopenia (OR: 0.39; CI: 0.20-0.78). Maintaining moderate-intensity physical activity is essential for older adults, as physical activity that exceeds the guidelines can significantly lower the risk of sarcopenia; meanwhile, insufficient physical activity can greatly increase it. Also, there seems to be a similar association between sarcopenia risk across different physical activity levels in vigorous-intensity physical activities in older adults. However, due to the small number of sarcopenia-risk participants who met or exceeded vigorous-intensity physical activity levels, further comparisons between different vigorous-intensity physical activity levels did not show significant differences in sarcopenia risk. Additionally, insufficient physical activity was found to be an important risk factor for sarcopenia in both genders, while physical activity that exceeded the guidelines prevented sarcopenia in females.

Conclusions: The findings of this study highlight the potential dose-response relationship related to physical activity. The 2020 WHO guidelines provide the public with minimum recommendations for physical activity. However, exceeding these recommended levels appears to be more effective in preventing sarcopenia in older adults and may offer even greater health benefits. Future research should further explore whether exceeding these guidelines could result in additional health benefits.