Massa muscular e função física em idosos com câncer gastrointestinal

Abstract

Sarcopenia, the syndrome of weight loss and skeletal muscle quality with the use of physical function, is highly prevalent in aging and is associated with adverse effects in the elderly with cancer. However, we do not know collaborative information as components of muscle mass imply the physical function of these patients. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare how different muscle phenotypes reflect in the results of physical function tests in elderly with gastrointestinal cancer. A cross-sectional study was carried out, which evaluated a physical function of handgrip (dynamometry) and gait speed test. Abdominal computed tomography images were used to evaluate muscle mass by specific software. The patients were classified in four muscle categories: normal quantity and quality, low quantity only, low quality only and low quantity and quality muscle. To compare each phenotype in the physical function ANCOVA one way tests was used followed by Bonferroni post hoc. A significance level of 5% was adopted. A total of 167 patients were included in the study, with a higher prevalence of males (58.1%) and mean age of 69.17 ± 7.97 years. The majority of patients were physically inactive (82.6%), and the prevalence of sarcopenia was 37.7%. Oncological elderly with low quality and / or muscle mass phenotypes presented inferior performance in the handgrip and gait speed tests. It was concluded that the individual with low muscular quantity and / or quality obtained worse results in the physical function tests, in which the patients were more susceptible to the fragility and difficulty to perform the daily activities.