Sarcopenia and Geriatric Medical Patients: Screening of risk, protein supplementation combined with resistance training, and measurement of body composition

Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength with age, which has many negative consequences. Especially older adults admitted to the hospital are vulnerable; however, not well studied in the context of sarcopenia.

The overall objectives of this PhD project involving geriatric medical patients were to evaluate a screening tool developed to identify the risk of sarcopenia.

Furthermore, to investigate the effect of a long-term treatment strategy to counteract sarcopenia by combining protein supplementation with resistance training (RT) compared to RT alone.

Finally, the agreement in body composition measurements between two specific devices (bio-impedance analysis and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) was investigated.