Five-year longitudinal changes in thigh muscle mass of septuagenarian men and women assessed with DXA and MRI

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were used to assess changes in thigh lean mass in septuagenarian men and women during a 5-year longitudinal study. Twenty-four older individuals participated in the study (10 men: 71.6 ± 4.1 years; 14 women: 71.3 ± 3.2 years at baseline). Thigh MRI and whole-body DXA scans were used to estimate changes in thigh lean mass. Both MRI and DXA showed that thigh lean mass was reduced by approximately 5% (P = 0.001) over the 5-year period in both men and women. The percentage loss of muscle mass determined with MRI and DXA showed moderate correlation (R 2 = 0.466; P < 0.001). Bland-Altman analysis showed that the average change over 5 years of follow-up measured by DXA was only 0.18% greater than MRI, where the limits of agreement between DXA and MRI were ± 10.4%. Baseline thigh lean mass did not predict the percentage loss of thigh lean mass over the 5-year period (R 2 = 0.003; P = 0.397), but a higher baseline body fat percentage was associated with a larger loss of thigh muscle mass in men (R 2 = 0.677; P < 0.003) but not in women (R 2 = 0.073; P < 0.176). In conclusion, (1) DXA and MRI showed a similar percentage loss of muscle mass over a 5-year period in septuagenarian men and women that (2) was independent of baseline muscle mass, but (3) increased with higher baseline body fat percentage in men.Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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“…In septuagenarian individuals, Delmonico et al [ 14 ] demonstrated an annual decrease in muscle area of − 4.9 ± 7.4% in men and of − 3.4 ± 7.9% in women after > 5 years of follow up. A similar result was found by Cameron et al [ 15 ] also in septuagenarian recreationally active men and women, in whom the decrease in thigh lean mass assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and whole body lean mass assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was approximately 5% during 5 years. These changes in muscularity have been termed sarcopenia by Irwin Rosenberg in 1988, which comes from Greek and means sarx = flesh and penia = loss [ 16 ].…”

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“…A study by Delmonico et al [ 12 ], conducted on 1678 subjects (heterogeneous for age, sex and ethnicity), showed that from 70 years of age there is an annual reduction of the muscular area of 4.9 ± 7.4% in men and 3.2 ± 7.9% in women. Similar results were obtained by Cameron et al [ 13 ] in a population of seventy, in which lean mass was measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The loss of MM was approximately 5% in five years of follow-up regardless of basal MM values.…”

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“…A longitudinal study conducted on Caucasian men over the age of 70 years showed that in fat-free mass there was a decrease of about 0.5-0.8% per year (Kemmler et al, 2019). In line with this, other studies show that a decrease also occurs in the muscle mass of the thighs of both men and women aged 70 years (Cameron et al, 2020).…”