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Motor Reaction Time, Sarcopenia and Functional Skills in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

  • Original Research
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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Importance

Aging generates changes over the years. Because of this, the musculoskeletal system is directly degraded and suffer deficits in its performance in elderly patients with Sarcopenia, as this condition is characterized by a decrease in muscle mass and function.

Objective

Correlate the motor reaction time and functional skills of non-sarcopenic, pre-sarcopenic and sarcopenic elderly women, and analyze influence on the risk of falls.

Design

Cross-sectional observational analytical study, following the methodological strategies of STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology), carried out under the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Unievangélica University, no. 3.694.235/2019.

Setting

Participants were evaluated regarding: cognitive status, level of physical activity, fear of falling, body composition, motor reaction time, static and dynamic balance, gait kinetics, strength and endurance of the lower limbs and finally handgrip strength.

Participants

A total of 59 volunteer elderly women were assessed following the diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia proposed by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP).

Results

The results show that there was a greater difference in motor reaction time between the non-sarcopenic and sarcopenic elderly women due to the executing organ being damaged by the presence of sarcopenia, causing motor response to slowdown. Functional deficit, fear of falling and greater risk of falls were observed in the sarcopenic group, under the harmful influence of increased motor reaction time.

Conclusion

Sarcopenic elderly women present increased motor reaction time, that is, slowed motor responses due to decreased muscle mass, strength and impaired musculature, which generate functional deficits that contribute to an increased risk of falls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Brasilía, Brasilía, Federal District, Brazil

    I. I. Pereira da Silva Alves, Guilherme Augusto Santos Bueno & R. L. de Menezes

  2. Department of Medicine, Centro Universitário Euro Americano, Brasilía, Federal District, Brazil

    Guilherme Augusto Santos Bueno

  3. Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil

    R. Brito Elmescany & R. L. de Menezes

  4. Department of Physiotherapy, Evangelical University of Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil

    L. Aparecida Borges & D. Kran Pinto

  5. LabinSaúde, Coimbra Health School Polytechnic of Coimbra, (ESTeSC-IPC), Coimbra, Portugal

    A. Correia Martins

Authors
  1. I. I. Pereira da Silva Alves
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  2. Guilherme Augusto Santos Bueno
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  3. R. Brito Elmescany
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  4. L. Aparecida Borges
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  6. A. Correia Martins
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  7. R. L. de Menezes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guilherme Augusto Santos Bueno.

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Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Ethical standards: The research complied with the current laws of Brazil. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Unievangélica University of Goiás, and adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Pereira da Silva Alves, I.I., Bueno, G.A.S., Elmescany, R.B. et al. Motor Reaction Time, Sarcopenia and Functional Skills in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Nutr Health Aging 27, 878–884 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-023-1983-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-023-1983-0

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