Association of body composition with sarcopenic obesity in elderly women

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity and its association with obesity and sarcopenia in elderly Brazilian women. Two hundred and seventy-two sedentary women with a mean age of 66.75 +/- 5.38 years were recruited for participation in this study. Obesity was determined by both body mass index and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) evaluations. Sarcopenic obesity diagnosis was established from the ratio between fat-free mass and body surface area as obtained by DXA. There was no association of obesity with sarcopenic obesity (P=0.424). In contrast, sarcopenia was significantly related to sarcopenic obesity (P < 0.001), although most of the elderly women with sarcopenia (n=171) did not exhibit sarcopenic obesity. These results highlight the importance of diagnosing sarcopenic obesity as elderly women exhibiting sarcopenia could be either eutrophic or obese.