Sarcopenia / edited by Alfonso J Cruz-Jentoft, John E. Morley.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Availability and standards on techniques to estimate muscle mass (or lean body mass) in epidemiological studies were becoming available. Based on these parameters, sarcopenia was operationally defined as a gradual loss of muscle mass. For instance, Baumgartner used a definition based on appendicular skeletal muscle mass estimated by DXA, corrected for height, and defined sarcopenia as being two standard deviations below sex specific means of healthy young persons (18-40 years) of a reference population 2. Longitudinal studies confirmed that a progressive reduction in muscle mass was present in both males and females 3. Muscle mass declines at approximately 1-2% per year after the age of 50 years. Sarcopenia, when defined as a severe muscle mass loss (two standard deviations below healthy young populations) is present in 5 to 13% of persons 60 to 70 years old and 11 to 50% of those over 80 years 4"-- Provided by publisher.