[Epidemiology of bone and joint disease - the present and future - . Epidemiology of sarcopenia]

The prevalence of sarcopenia diagnosed only by muscle mass in the elderly ranged from 12% to 50%, when muscle mass was measured by DXA with high accuracy. In Japanese elderly, it was reportedly 12%, 24%, 40%, and 53% in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s men, respectively, and 24%, 21%, 24%, and 25% in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s women, respectively. Recently, as new criteria including physical performance such as gait speed, and muscle strength, two international consensuses were obtained in Europe and US. In addition, Asian criteria have also been decided most recently. The prevalence of sarcopenia in Japanese people aged 65 years or over diagnosed using European criteria, was reportedly 10% and 22% in men, and 15% and 22% in women. The future development of epidemiological studies for sarcopenia is awaited.