"Muscle" can not be lost, there is a disease called sarcopenia
■As you get older, your muscles are naturally not as strong as those of a strong teenager, but if your body's muscles become less and less, it is not only a matter of body shape, but also health.
You know, "muscle" cannot be lost. There is a disease called sarcopenia.
■As the pace of aging society accelerates, sarcopenia, an age-related disease, has become increasingly prominent and the demand for medical consultations is increasing.
The Department of Geriatrics of Renji Hospital has added a special outpatient clinic for "sarcoidosis" since January this year. It is precisely in response to this demand that patients have access to medical treatment.
■Hu Yaomin
1 in 8 elderly people have sarcopenia
Aunt Wang is 60 years old this year. Before retiring, she was a civil servant. She has always been in good health without any chronic diseases.
But since leaving the job five years ago, she felt that she had lost the focus of her life, her physical strength had dropped a little, she always felt very tired, and the quality of life was not as good as before.
After the new crown epidemic in 2020, she has been bored at home. She has no energy and energy. She doesn't want to do any housework. The quality of sleep at night is not good. Her weight has dropped by 8 catties for no reason. Fell down.
Because she was very worried about her physical condition, her family took her to the hospital for a full set of physical examinations. All indicators such as tumor, endocrine and metabolism were normal. Judging from the conclusions of the physical examination, Aunt Wang can be called a "healthy" old man. .
However, Aunt Wang was very dissatisfied with the conclusion of the physical examination. She felt that she must be ill, but she could not find it out.
She brought her medical report to the Department of Geriatrics of Renji Hospital and found the author.
Is Aunt Wang sick?
The professional comprehensive assessment process found that Aunt Wang actually suffered from sarcopenia, also known as sarcopenia.
Speaking of sarcopenia, it is the first time many people have heard of it. This is normal. At present, there is a general lack of understanding of this disease and low social attention.
Sarcopenia is defined as: age-related loss of muscle mass, accompanied by a decline in muscle strength and/or physical function.
In October 2016, sarcopenia was officially included in the ICD-10 disease code of the International Classification of Diseases, marking the medical community's recognition of it as an independent disease with independent characteristics.
Although the degree of attention is not high, sarcopenia is actually a common disease in my country. Among the elderly over 60 years old in my country, the incidence of sarcopenia is 6.8%-18.5%, which means that on average every 8 elderly people One person has sarcopenia.
"Muscle Bank" cannot make ends meet, and problems follow
Loss of muscle mass and strength is one of the significant manifestations of human aging, and this process is inevitable.
If there is a bank called "Muscle Bank", then the body's muscle mass will reach its peak at the age of 40. Without intervention, the muscle mass will gradually decrease, and the loss will accelerate after the age of 60. At the age of 70, the body's muscle mass will be about Decrease by 40%... Once you cannot make ends meet, your body will have problems.
The causes of sarcopenia can be divided into primary and secondary.
Primary sarcopenia is mainly related to age and has no other specific causes.
Secondary sarcopenia means that besides aging, there are other obvious causes of disease.
Other reasons include: muscle loss due to inflammation, osteoarthritis, and neurological diseases, muscle loss due to physical disability, long-term bed rest, and malnutrition, drug-related anorexia, overnutrition/obesity, etc. Muscle loss.
So, what is the harm of sarcopenia?
As we all know, skeletal muscle is the body's most important locomotor organ, the largest protein storehouse, and an important glucose metabolism organ.
When skeletal muscle is reduced, these functions will naturally be damaged, reducing motor function and ability of daily living, weakening the body's disease resistance, and causing abnormal endocrine metabolism.
Moreover, age-related complex changes in the body such as muscles, fat, bones, etc. may cause multiple complications, produce synergistic effects, and cause double or multiple burdens on the body.
Research data shows that muscles are reduced by 10%, immune function is reduced, and the risk of infection is increased.
Muscles are reduced by 20%, muscle weakness, reduced ability of daily living, increased risk of falls, and delayed wound healing.
Muscles are reduced by 30%, and muscle function is further severely reduced and disabled. Life needs care. Patients will be too weak to sit up independently, wounds cannot heal, and pressure sores and pneumonia are prone to occur.
Muscle is reduced by 40%, and the risk of death is significantly increased, such as death from pneumonia.
Therefore, sarcopenia seriously harms the health and function of the elderly, leading to an increase in clinical adverse events, such as falls, fractures, infections, rehospitalization, and death, which are closely related to the quality of life of the elderly.
In layman's terms, for elderly people with sarcopenia, the inspection indicators may look okay, but they are actually "paper boats". Once a stressful situation occurs (such as infection, acute illness, surgery, trauma, etc.) , It would be like tearing down the first domino and the body collapsed.
Young and middle-aged people will also have "less muscle", so be careful when you fall for no reason
What is clear is that it is normal for muscles to naturally decrease with age.
So, when is it reduced to what extent is it considered abnormal?
What kind of situations need to go to the "sarcopenia" special disease clinic?
1. If you are in old age, or find that the elderly around you (over 60 years old) walk slowly, feel difficult to stand, cannot hold a heavier object, fall or even fracture easily, and have unexplained weight loss and fatigue , Depressed, you can go to the sarcopenia outpatient clinic;
2. If you are a middle-aged or young person with an unhealthy lifestyle, often feel tired, weak, lack of energy, insomnia, or depression, you can also come to the sarcopenia clinic for help;
3. If you are concerned about your muscle health, but you do not currently have any obvious symptoms, you can do a simple "ring test" (an effective alternative to measuring calf circumference) to determine whether you are at risk of sarcopenia. If so, you can also go to the sarcopenia clinic for help.
(The author is the director of the Department of Geriatrics, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine)