Associations of accelerometer-determined physical activity and sedentary behavior with sarcopenia and incident falls over 12 months in community-dwelling Swedish older adults

Abstract

<i>Objective</i>: To determine associations of accelerometer-determined time and bouts of sedentary behavior, light physical activity (PA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) with sarcopenia and incident falls over 12 months. <p>

<p><i>Methods</i>:A total of 3334 Swedish 70-year-olds were assessed for sarcopenia, as defined by the revised definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2). Assessments were based on low scores for appendicular lean mass (ALM; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), hand grip strength (HGS), and Timed Up and Go (TUG). For 7 days after baseline, total time and total number of bouts (≥10 min of continuous activity at a given intensity) of activity performed at sedentary, light PA, and MVPA intensities were assessed by accelerometer. Incident falls were self-reported 6 and 12 months after baseline. <p>

<p><i>Results</i>: Only 2% of participants had probable or confirmed sarcopenia. After multivariable adjustment for other levels of activity, only greater MVPA time was associated with reduced likelihood of having low ALM, low HGS, and slow TUG time as defined by EWGSOP2 criteria (all p 0.05). <p>

<p><i>Conclusion</i>: Higher amounts of accelerometer-determined MVPA are consistently associated with reduced likelihood of sarcopenia and its components, regardless of the length of bouts or amounts of sedentary behavior.