Alternative appendicular muscle mass cut-off points for verification of sarcopenia in older Brazilians: data from Rede Fibra - Belo Horizonte/Brazil

ABSTRACT Alternative cut-off points for the calculation of appendicular muscle mass (AMM) in older Brazilians were established to classify sarcopenia. Data from 562 older adults from Belo Horizonte who participated in the Fibra study (Fragilidade em Idosos Brasileiros [Fragility in Older Brazilians) were analyzed. Through Lee’s equation, cut-off points for AMM were determined based on the 20th percentile of their distribution in the studied population. Then, the subjects were classified for sarcopenia according to the criteria of the European Consensus on Definition and Diagnosis of Sarcopenia in Older Adults, and its possible associations with functional capacity and comorbidities were evaluated. Most of the sample was composed by women (65.5%) with 74.1 years of age (±6.4) and 1.5 (±1.4) comorbidities on average. The cut-off points for AMM were