title: Body composition as a frailty marker for the elderly community.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Body composition (BC) in the elderly has been associated with diseases and mortality; however, there is a shortage of data on frailty in the elderly.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between BC and frailty, and identify BC profiles in nonfrail, prefrail, and frail elderly people.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study comprising 235 elderly (142 females and 93 males) aged ≥65 years, from the city of Amparo, State of São Paulo, Brazil, was undertaken. Sociodemographic and cognitive features, comorbidities, medication, frailty, body mass index (BMI), muscle mass, fat mass, bone mass, and fat percent (%) data were evaluated. Aiming to examine the relationship between BC and frailty, the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests were applied. The statistical significance level was P<0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The nonfrail elderly showed greater muscle mass and greater bone mass compared with the prefrail and frail ones. The frail elderly had greater fat % than the nonfrail elderly. There was a positive association between grip strength and muscle mass with bone mass (P<0.001), and a negative association between grip strength and fat % (P<0.001). Gait speed was positively associated with fat mass (P=0.038) and fat % (P=0.002). The physical activity level was negatively associated with fat % (P=0.022). The weight loss criterion was positively related to muscle mass (P<0.001), bone mass (P=0.009), fat mass (P=0.018), and BMI (P=0.003). There was a negative association between fatigue and bone mass (P=0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frailty in the elderly was characterized by a BC profile/phenotype with lower muscle mass and lower bone mass and with a higher fat %. The BMI was not effective in evaluating the relationship between BC and frailty. The importance of evaluating the fat % was verified when considering the tissue distribution in the elderly BC.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gláucia Regina
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Falsarella
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lívia Pimenta Renó
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Gasparotto
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Clinics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Caroline Coutinho
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Barcelos
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil ; Department of Medical Clinics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ibsen Bellini
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Coimbra
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Clara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Moretto
authors.affiliation: Department Biodynamics of Movement, Faculty of Physical Education, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauro Alexandre
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pascoa
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Talita C B Rezende
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil ; Family Health Program, Gerontology Program, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Arlete Maria Valente
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Coimbra
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: body composition; elderly; frailty