Understanding acute sarcopenia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding acute sarcopenia: a time-limited cohort study to characterise changes in muscle mass and physical function in older adults following hospitalisation
IRAS ID
252897
Contact name
Carly Welch
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 26 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
Why study this subject?
Older adults are admitted to hospital more frequently than any other age group. We know that bedrest can cause muscles to shrink, but, unfortunately, we know that many older adults will remain in bed throughout their hospital stay. Combined with the effects of illness itself, this can cause your muscles to shrink and to become weaker whilst in hospital. We know that many older adults worry about the effect this can have upon their physical function and independence.
Purpose of this study
This study will enable us to better understand what happens to the muscles of older people in hospital, and what factors increase the risk of muscles shrinking and getting weaker. This may help to show the need to measure patients' muscle sizes and strength while they are in hospital. Overall, we hope to find ways to stop patients' muscles from shrinking or getting weaker in hospital.
What will this study involve?
This study will include 56 elective abdominal surgery patients, 56 emergency abdominal surgery patients, and 56 patients with infections admitted via the emergency department; all will be aged 70 years and older. We will measure changes in muscle size using safe tools (ultrasound and bioelectrical impedance analysis), handgrip strength, and walking speed. Changes will be compared to baseline and measured within two days of surgery (if applicable), at one week after admission or surgery, and at three months. We will complete short questionnaires at the start of the study and at three months. Blood testing and measurement of physical activity using a simple device will be performed as optional parts of the study.
Summary of Results
Acute sarcopenia is a condition of muscle failure, that we think older people are most vulnerable to the effects of. Measuring and assessing this condition in itself has been considered to be challenging. However, through this study, we were able to show that conducting research of this nature is possible. We also showed factors that might affect variations in recruitment across patient groups, as well as dropout from the study. Importantly, we were able to show that the assessment tools we used were acceptable to patients, and that the research was considered of high importance to them.Hospitalisation and acute illness are associated with risk of declines in muscle quantity, quality, and function. However, this does not affect everyone in the same way, and individual factors are important. Factors that might make people more likely to experience declines in their muscle quantity, quality, and function include how much people move about in hospital (step count), nutritional status when first admitted to hospital, the prescription of steroids during admission, and having the condition delirium. Delirium is a condition that causes a clouding of the mind, and is brought on by the acute illness itself.
The next step is now to determine what interventions we can implement in hospital to prevent or reduce the declines that we see in some patients. This study will help us in planning how we deliver these interventions, as well as which patients are in greatest need.
REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
19/WA/0036
Date of REC Opinion
13 Feb 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion