Sarcopenia disease in Iran: an overview

Gita Shafiee; Ramin Heshmat; Afshin Ostovar; Iraj Nabipour; Bagher Larijani

doi:10.1007/s40200-019-00452-9

Sarcopenia disease in Iran: an overview

J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2019 Nov 15;18(2):665-674. doi: 10.1007/s40200-019-00452-9. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Gita Shafiee¹, Ramin Heshmat¹, Afshin Ostovar², Iraj Nabipour³, Bagher Larijani⁴

Affiliations

¹ 1Chronic Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, NO 10, Jalale-Al-Ahmad Ave, Chamran Highway, Tehran, Iran.
² 2Osteoporosis Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ 3The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
⁴ 4Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenia is a geriatric disease with adverse clinical outcomes, high rate of mortality and a major challenge to healthy elderly. This study aimed to undertake a survey to identify gaps and highlight strengths in sarcopenia research in order to progress research in this area for the next years in Iran.

Methods: This study included all studies published from the beginning until the first of 2019 in national and international journals by Iranian authors conducted in the field of sarcopenia. The databases including MEDLINE (via PubMed), Web of Science and SCOPUS were used as the sources of information. All relevant available academic studies, including review articles, original articles, case reports, conference abstracts, and letters were included in the analysis.

Findings: A total of 48 articles obtained and then categorized into six groups. These groups were; about Pathophysiology, Epidemiology of sarcopenia, Screening of sarcopenia, Nutrition, Physical activity and Association of Sarcopenia and Other Diseases that briefly findings of each study had been described. These findings showed that the prevalence of sarcopenia was 16.5% to 32.5%, using different definitions. A study developed and validated a screening model for identifying people with sarcopenia. Lifestyle changes such as diet can be appropriate strategies for the prevention of sarcopenia and also, physical activity is considered to be one of the few effective strategies to improve sarcopenia and prevent its outcomes, especially if in combination with appropriate nutritional supplementation. Sarcopenia is associated with adverse outcomes and other serious areas such as metabolic disorders, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, nephrology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, other geriatric diseases (such as osteoporosis, etc) and death. Some studies about these areas have been done in Iran.

Conclusions: By this study, we found that studies on sarcopenia, the gaps of sarcopenia research in Iran, and highlighted the research priorities for future works. The outcome of the present research is to ultimately improve the health, quality of life and well-being of sarcopenic people.

Keywords: Iran; Research; Sarcopenia.

Publication types

Review