Correlation of sarcopenia and depressive mood in older community dwellers: a cross-sectional observational study in China

Abstract

ObjectiveWhether sarcopenia is detrimental to depression is still controversial, which may be due to the three components of the sarcopenia. Our objective was to define the correlation between depression and sarcopenia in older Chinese community dwellers.DesignThe study has a cross-sectional design.SettingThe study was conducted in Jiangsu, China.ParticipantsA total of 101 men and 149 women aged 60 years or older were recruited.Outcome measuresLean tissue mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Muscle strength in the upper and lower limbs was measured by a handheld dynamometer and a chair stand test, respectively. Physical performance was assessed by gait speed and standing balance tests. Depressive mood was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale-30 (range 0–30).ResultsParticipants in the sarcopenia group had a higher mean depression score than the normal group (p=0.002). Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that depression was negatively associated with muscle strength (handgrip strength: R=−0.170, p=0.028 for women, R=−0.196, p=0.048 for men; chair stand test performance: R=0.252, p=0.002 for women, R=0.311, p=0.001 for men) and physical performance (gait speed: R=−0.200, p=0.009, standing balance test performance: R=−0.224, p=0.006, Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB): R=−0.218, p=0.007 for women; SPPB: R=−0.252, p=0.01 for men). Multiple linear regression models revealed that depressive mood was inversely associated with chair stand test (β=0.325, p<0.001), gait speed (β=−0.009, p=0.041) and standing balance test (β=−0.24, p=0.016) after adjusting for confounding factors, while no significant correlation was observed between depressive mood and muscle mass.ConclusionThe diagnostic components of sarcopenia—strength of the leg muscles (chair stand test) and physical performance (gait speed and standing balance test)—were associated with depressive mood.

Handgrip Strength and Depression Among Older Chinese Inpatients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Many cross-sectional studies have found that adults with low handgrip strength were at increased risk of depression. [13][14][15][16] Furthermore, three prospective cohort studies conducted in different countries have also reported similar results: high handgrip strength can reduce the risk of depression. [17][18][19] Meanwhile, a recent meta-analysis showed that muscle strength has a positive impact on reducing depression, with a pooled OR of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80-0.89).…”

“…Our study suggested that low handgrip strength is associated with a higher risk of depression, independent of The impact of handgrip strength on depression has been examined in several studies, mainly focusing on community dwelling adults from various countries. [13][14][15][16] In a crosssectional study with a total of 24,109 Chinese adults, the authors reported that male participants with the highest grip strength were not at a reduced risk of depression (OR=0.91; 95% CI: 0.78-1.07) compared to male participants with the lowest grip strength; however, this association of a reduced risk of depression was found in females. 14 Another study of adults aged 50 years and older reported that both females and males had a significantly reduced risk of depression in all grip strength quartiles, 2, 3, and 4, compared to those in the lowest quartiles.…”

Clarifying the relationship between sarcopenia and depression in geriatric outpatients

“…In our study, the muscle mass of the participants was not evaluated. However, most of the previous studies reported a relationship between depression and impaired HGS or muscle performance [5,9,11,16,21] but not between depression and low muscle mass [12,19,20]. Here, we comment that the lack of motivation caused by depression might cause impaired physical performance tests.…”

“…Decreased physical activity [30,31], increased oxidative stress [32,33], increased falling risk, which caused immobility [34,35], malnutrition [4,36], and dysregulated hormonal cycles [37,38] were some of the common risk factors suggested [39] in the literature. While some articles in recent years report the relationship between sarcopenia components and depression [5,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], some of them reported that there is no relationship between sarcopenia components and depression [9][10][11][12][13]. We think there are several points to discuss our results here.…”

“…On the other hand, the results of the studies investigating the relationship between sarcopenia and depression are controversial. Some researchers found no relationship between sarcopenia and depression in older adults [9][10][11][12][13]. However, other researchers suggested an association with depressive symptoms and diagnosis of sarcopenia [5,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”