title: Preliminary evaluation of the prevalence of sarcopenia in obese patients from Southern Italy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sarcopenic obesity has not yet been widely defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia in a group of severely obese adults from southern Italy by using two different indexes: percentage of skeletal muscle mass (SMP) and skeletal muscle mass normalized for height (SMI); and to determine SMP and SMI cutoff points in a southern Italy reference population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Skeletal muscle mass of 131 consecutive obese adult outpatients (51 men and 80 women; ages 45-67 y; body mass index 44.6 ± 7.7 kg/m(2)), was assessed by bioimpedance analysis. SMP and SMI cutoff points to identify moderate and severe sarcopenia were calculated in a reference group of 500 young southern Italy adults (100 men and 400 women; ages 18-40 y; body mass index 25.2 ± 5.6 kg/m(2)) and applied to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia in the study population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SMP cutoff points to identify moderate and severe sarcopenia were, 28.8% to 35.6% and ≤ 28.7% in men and 23.1% to 28.4% and ≤ 23% in women, respectively. The corresponding values for SMI were 8.44 to 9.53 kg/m(2) and ≤ 8.43 kg/m(2) in men, 6.49 to 7.32 kg/m(2) and ≤ 6.48 kg/m(2) in women. According to SMP, 23 of 51 (45.1%) men and 19 of 80 (23.8%) women were moderately sarcopenic; 28 of 51 (54.9%) men and 61 of 80 (76.3%) women met the definition of severe sarcopenia. Based on SMI, only 2 of 51 (3.9%) men were moderately sarcopenic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that sarcopenia rates vary widely in obese patients depending on the criteria used. SMP as a screening tool to identify a sarcopenia at-risk population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Eliana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Rosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy. Electronic address: lidia.santarpia@unina.it.
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santarpia
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marra
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sammarco
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onufrio
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Simone
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Contaldo
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pasanisi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body composition; Fat free mass; Fat mass; Sarcopenic obesity