5, 6, 7, 8 One of the potentially modifiable risk factors is sarcopenia, that is, age‐related low skeletal muscle mass, strength, and physical performance. These include old age, female sex, fear of falling, impaired cognition, mobility, and gait. 3, 4 A number of risk factors have been found to predispose older adults to falls. 2 Falls are associated with physical disability, functional impairment, dependency in activities of daily living, institutionalization, increased morbidity, and mortality. The positive association between sarcopenia with falls and fractures in older adults strengthens the need to invest in sarcopenia prevention and interventions to evaluate its effect on falls and fractures.Īpproximately one‐third of older adults fall at least once a year 1 and a median of 4.1% of falls results in fractures. This was independent of study design, population, sex, sarcopenia definition, continent, and study quality. Thirty‐three studies (45 926 individuals) were included in the meta‐analysis. Ten out of 22 studies reported a significantly higher risk of falls in sarcopenic compared with non‐sarcopenic individuals 11 out of 19 studies showed a significant positive association with fractures.
Four studies reported on both falls and fractures. Thirty‐six studies (52 838 individuals, 48.8% females, and mean age of the study populations ranging from 65.0 to 86.7 years) were included in the systematic review. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I 2 statistics.
Subgroup analyses were performed by study design, population, sex, sarcopenia definition, continent, and study quality. Pooled analyses were conducted of the associations of sarcopenia with falls and fractures, expressed in odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Inclusion criteria were the following: published in English, mean/median age ≥ 65 years, sarcopenia diagnosis (based on definitions used by the original studies' authors), falls and/or fractures outcomes, and any study population. A literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, and CINAHL from inception to May 2018. This study aims to systematically assess the literature and perform a meta‐analysis of the association between sarcopenia with falls and fractures among older adults. Sarcopenia is a potentially modifiable risk factor for falls and fractures in older adults, but the strength of the association between sarcopenia, falls, and fractures is unclear.