Relationship between muscle thickness and calf circumference in healthy older women

Calf circumference (CC) is an indirect method used to evaluate muscle mass in older adults. Ultrasound has also been studied as a method for measuring muscle mass. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to correlate CC and muscle thickness of the medial gastrocnemius muscle (MGM) in healthy older women.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 74 healthy older women. The MGM thickness was evaluated using an ultrasound device (Logiq Book XP, General Electric®). The reference value for adequate CC was ≥ 31 cm. Weight and height were measured for the calculation of the body mass index (BMI), which was dichotomized as with or without excess weight based on the cutoff points recommended by the World Health Organization (1995); Lipschitz (1994) and the Pan-American Health Organization (2001).

All participants were ≥ 64 years of age. Mean weight and height were 66.19 kg (SD: 10.48) and 1.55 m (SD: 0.06), respectively. Half of the participants had a BMI higher than 27.53 kg/m². Moderate positive correlations were found between CC and MGM thickness (ρ = 0.432; p < 0.001), MGM thickness and weight (r = 0.422; p < 0.001) and between MGM thickness and BMI (r = 0.438; p < 0.001). However, the correlation between CC and MGM thickness was non-significant among the women with excess weight.

A moderate positive correlation between MGM thickness and CC was found in healthy older women. However, this correlation was weak and non-significant among those with excess weight.