Sarcopenia in Brazilian rural and urban elderly women: Is there any difference?

There are many studies concerning sarcopenia prevalence from all over the world. However, to our knowledge, only two compared urban and rural sarcopenia and to date, none have been conducted in the Americas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia in a convenience sample of women ≥60 y of age who underwent bone densitometry and live in urban and rural areas of southern Brazil.

This was a cross-sectional study comprising 205 women ≥60 y of age who had undergone bone densitometry. Sarcopenia was defined according to the criteria recommended by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People. The diagnosis combined the evaluation of muscle mass (assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), muscle strength (measured using a manual digital dynamometer), and muscular performance (evaluated by the 4-m walking speed test). Sociodemographic data, smoking status, chronic conditions, number of falls and fractures in the past year, and level of physical activity also were collected.

Sarcopenia was present in 2.4% of the total sample. Urban and rural populations significantly differed in terms of schooling (P < 0.001), occupation (P = 0.010), socioeconomic status (P = 0.001), and smoking status (P = 0.006). The environment in which the women lived was independently associated with sarcopenia (odds ratio, 9.561; 95% confidence interval, 1.021-89.523; P = 0.048). The prevalence of sarcopenia was significantly higher in the urban women than in the rural group (5.7 versus 0.7%, respectively; P = 0.047). After multivariate analysis, the environment of the women's residence remained independently associated with sarcopenia.

Urban elderly women are more vulnerable to sarcopenia than rural elderly women.