ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of sarcopenia in Mexican older adults using simple measurements and tailored cutoff values for the components of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People algorithm. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study used cross-sectional data from the third wave (2012) of the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Gait speed and handgrip strength cutoff values were tailored for Mexican older adults. Muscle mass was estimated by a formula, which uses simple anthropometry and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: From the total of 1,238 older adults included in our study, sarcopenia prevalence was 11% (n = 137). When categorizing sarcopenia, 39.1% (n = 484) had pre-sarcopenia, 8.3% (n = 103) moderate sarcopenia, and 2.75% (n = 34) had severe sarcopenia. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia is a common problem in Mexican older adults, and its frequency along with its severity increases with age. Tailored cutoff values could help in identifying those subjects that could have benefited from intervention.
