Our data showed high prevalence of malnutrition and the risk of its development among the community-dwelling elderly people in Poland. Screening with MNA-SF should focus in particular on unmarried, poorly educated individuals, in late old age, living in rural areas and self-reporting a poor financial state, especially women.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of a polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (PUFA) supplementation on the parameters of body composition, muscle strength and physical performance in elderly people with decreased muscle mass (DMM). Fifty three elderly people with an ALM index (the ratio of appendicular lean mass to squared height) either below (−2SD: low muscle mass-LMM) or between (−1SD and −2SD: the risk of LMM-rLMM) the ALM index for the young Polish reference population were randomly assigned to PUFA-treated groups (LMM-PUFA, rLMM-PUFA) or control groups (LMM-control, rLMM-control). PUFA-treated groups received capsules containing 1.3 g of PUFA and 10 mg of vitamin E, while the control groups received 11 mg of vitamin E daily for 12 weeks. Body composition (BIA analysis), muscle strength (hand grip measured with dynamometer) and physical performance (Timed Up and Go test-TUG) were assessed before and after supplementation. No statistically significant differences were observed either in muscle mass or in the hand grip and TUG in any group. The post-pre difference (mean ± SD) in ALM index was as follows (kg/m2): LMM-PUFA: 0.00 ± 0.30, rLMM-PUFA: 0.00 ± 0.22, LMM-control: 0.03 ± 0.36, rLMM-control: –0.03 ± 0.20. In our study, a 12 week supplementation of PUFA did not affect the evaluated parameters in elderly individuals with DMM.

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the world population. In addition to airflow obstruction, COPD is associated with multiple systemic manifestations, including impaired nutritional status or malnutrition and changes in body composition (low muscle mass, LMM). Poor nutritional status and sarcopenia in subjects with COPD leads to a worse prognosis and increases health-related costs. Data from previous studies indicate that 30–60% of subjects with COPD are malnourished, 20–40% have low muscle mass, and 15–21.6% have sarcopenia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition, sarcopenia, and malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome in elderly subjects with COPD and investigate the relationship between COPD severity and these conditions.Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study involving 124 patients with stable COPD, aged ≥60, participating in a stationary pulmonary rehabilitation program. Nutritional status was assessed following the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria and sarcopenia with the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 (EWGSOP2) criteria. The results of pulmonary function tests and exercise capacity were obtained from the hospital database. Results: 22.6% of participants had malnutrition according to the GLIM criteria. Subjects with malnutrition had lower gait speed (p = 0.0112) and worse results of the Six Minute Walk Test. Sixteen participants (12.9%) had sarcopenia; 12 subjects with sarcopenia had concomitant malnutrition. The prevalence of severe and very severe obstruction (GOLD3/GOLD4) was 91.7%. It was significantly higher in patients with malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome. Conclusions: Malnutrition was found in nearly one out of four subjects with COPD, while sarcopenia was one out of seven patients. About 10% of our study sample had malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome. The prevalence of severe and very severe obstruction was significantly higher in patients with malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome.

Introduction There are four screening sarcopenia questionnaires (SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, MSRA-7). To unambiguously determine which of them is the most effective tool in community-dwelling older adults, we performed a diagnostic accuracy study. The aim of the analysis was to assess the diagnostic values of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, MSRA-5, MSRA-7 and compare their psychometric properties against six criterion standards (EWGSOP1, EWG-SOP2, FNIH, AWGS, IWGS, SCWD criteria). Materials and methods We included 100 community-dwelling volunteers aged � 65yrs. The sensitivity/specificity analyses were performed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curves (AUC) were calculated to compare the overall diagnostic accuracy of the four questionnaires. Ideal screening tools should have reasonably high sensitivity and specificity, and an AUC value above 0.7.

Purpose: Older adults should be routinely screened for sarcopenia, which threatens healthy, independent aging. The most popular screening tool is the SARC-F questionnaire. As its sensitivity is unsatisfactory, two modified versions of the questionnaire have been published: SARC-CalF (including calf circumference as an additional item) and SARC-F+EBM (assessing additionally age and Body Mass Index). The diagnostic performance of the three versions of the questionnaire has not been compared. The analysis aimed to assess the diagnostic value of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, and SARC-F+EBM questionnaires, and to compare their psychometric properties against two reference standards of sarcopenia diagnosis, ie, EWGSOP1 and modified EWGSOP2 criteria. Materials and Methods: We performed the sensitivity/specificity analysis and compared the overall diagnostic accuracy of SARC-F, SARC-CalF (31cm) (cut-off point 31 cm for both genders), SARC-CalF (33/34cm) (cut-off points: 33 cm for women and 34 cm for men), and SARC-F+EBM in 115 community-dwelling volunteers aged ≥ 65 yrs from Poland. Results: Depending on the version of the SARC-F questionnaire used, from 10.4% [SARC-CalF (31cm)] to 33.0% (SARC-F+EBM) were identified as having an increased risk of sarcopenia. Sarcopenia was identified in 17.4% by the EWGSOP1 criteria and in 13.9% by the modified EWGSOP2 criteria. With respect to the two reference standards used, the sensitivity of SARC-F, SARC-CalF (31cm), SARC-CalF (33/34cm), and SARC-F+EBM ranged 30.0--37.5%, 35.0-37.5%, 60.0-62.5%, 55.0% (the same value for both reference standards), respectively. The specificity ranged 85.3-85.9%, 93.9-94.7%, 88.4-86.9%, 70.7-71.6%, respectively. The AUC of SARC-F, SARC-CalF (31cm), SARC-CalF (33/34cm) and SARC-F+EBM ranged 0.644-0.693, 0.737-0.783, 0.767-0.804, 0.714-0.715, respectively. Conclusion:The modified versions of SARC-F have better diagnostic performance as compared to the original questionnaire. Since an ideal screening tool should have reasonably high sensitivity and specificity, and an AUC value above 0.7, the SARC-CalF (33/34cm) seems to be the best screening tool for sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults.

Up to 28% of elderly residents in Europe are at risk of malnutrition. As uniform diagnostic criteria for malnutrition have not been formulated, in autumn 2018, the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) presented a consensus on its diagnosis. According to the consensus, the diagnosis of malnutrition requires a positive screening test result for the risk of malnutrition, and the presence of at least one etiologic and one phenotypic criterion. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic performance and accuracy of the Mini Nutritional Assessment—Short Form (MNA-SF) against GLIM criteria. The analysis involved 273 community-dwelling volunteers aged ≥ 60 years. All participants were screened for malnutrition with the MNA-SF questionnaire. Next, the GLIM phenotypic and etiologic criteria were assessed in all subjects. Based on the presence of at least one phenotypic and one etiologic criterion, malnutrition was diagnosed in more than one-third of participants (n = 103, 37.7%). According to the MNA-SF, only 7.3% of subjects had malnutrition, and 28.2% were at risk of malnutrition. The agreement between the MNA-SF score and the GLIM criteria were observed in only 22.3% of the population. The sensitivity and specificity of MNA-SF against the GLIM criteria were fair (59.2% and 78.8%, respectively). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.77, indicating the fair ability of MNA-SF to diagnose malnutrition. Based on the present study results, the best solution may be an optional replacement of the screening tool in the first step of the GLIM algorithm with clinical suspicion of malnutrition.

Objectives. Cut-off points (COPs) for appendicular lean mass (ALM) index, essential to define low muscle mass (LMM) in the elderly, have never been officially defined for Poland. The aim of the study was to establish them. Additionally, the significance of body mass index (BMI) for correctly defining the COPs in a young, healthy reference group was assessed. Methods. The study was composed of reference group (n = 1113) and the elderly group (n = 200). In all subjects, body composition was assessed by bioimpedance analysis, and ALM index was calculated. Next, COPs (kg/m2) were set up for the whole reference group and for particular subgroups with different BMIs separately. They were used to diagnose sarcopenia in the elderly. Results. COP for all young females was 5.37 (COP-F), while it was equal to 5.52 (COP-F2) when only those with a recommended BMI (18.50–24.99 kg/m2) were taken into consideration. For males, it was 7.32 and 7.29, respectively. Only 7% of elderly females had LMM based on COP-F and 15% had LMM based on COP-F2 (P < 0.05); for males, the percentages were 18% and 16%, respectively. Conclusions. COPs for LMM for Poland are 5.52 kg/m2 (females) and 7.29 kg/m2 (males). The reference group BMI is an important factor in establishing COPs for low muscle mass.

Introduction SARC-F is a quick questionnaire recommended as a screening tool for sarcopenia. The aim of the study was to translate, adapt, and validate the Polish version of the SARC-F for community-dwelling older adults in Poland. Materials and methods We included 160 Polish volunteers aged ≥ 60 years (44% of men). The Polish version of SARC-F was adapted following standardized forward-backward translation procedure. SARC-F was validated against the six sets of diagnostic criteria as the reference standards [developed independently by European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People1 (EWGSOP1), European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People2 (EWGSOP2), Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Sarcopenia Project, Asia Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS), the International Working Group for Sarcopenia (IWGS), and Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD)]. Results SARC-F score ≥ 4 points was observed in 18.8% of the study population. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.70. The sensitivity of SARC-F varied from 33.3% to 50.0% depending on the diagnostics criteria used, while the specificity was about 85%. Positive predictive value (PPV) was low (about 30%) for five out of six sets of the diagnostic criteria used (EWGSOP2, IWGS, AWGS, FNIH, and SCWD), while the negative predictive value (NPV) was generally high (>88%). The area under the ROC curves (AUC) was 0.652–0.728. SARC-F had the largest AUC against FNIH criteria (0.728), indicating a moderate diagnostic accuracy. Similar results were found for EWGSOP2 and IWGS criteria. The AUC values were below 0.7 for AWGS, SCWD, and EWGSOP1 criteria. Conclusion Based on the results, the Polish version of SARC-F shows excellent reliability and good internal consistency. High specificity and high NPV make SARC-F a useful tool to rule-out sarcopenia with high accuracy in community-dwelling older adults, independently of the diagnostic criteria used.