Using Bedside Ultrasound to Screen for Sarcopenia in Older Adults

The loss of both muscle mass and quality with increasing age is called 'sarcopenia' and is a risk factor for falls, fractures and increased mortality. Sarcopenia is diagnosed with Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning (according to current criteria), but in Canada DXA scans are not approved to screen for this condition. One potential solution is Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS), since recent advances have made bedside ultrasound technology readily available as a rapid bedside screening tool.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sarcopenia
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Bed side Ultrasound

Detailed Description

Some recent work has examined the possibility of using ultrasound as a measure of both muscle quantity and muscle quantity. Work done by Strasser et al, has shown that ultrasonic measures of muscle thickness in the quadriceps muscle has a highly significant correlation with maximal voluntary contration. Other work done by Miron-Mombiela et al has shown that measures of muscle thickness and echointensity (a measure of muscle quality) also show high correlations with grip strength. These findings (supported by our pilot data, see Pilot Data) and new technological advances in bedside ultrasonic devices suggest that these measures might be a valuable contribution to the process of screening for sarcopenia in older adults. In this proposal, Investigators hypothesize that bedside ultrasound, which is increasingly becoming a mainstream component of the standard physical exam, will be a much more specific and accurate alternative to our current best screening methods.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 152

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • British Columbia
    • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z 1M9
      • Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, VGH Research Pavilion Room 186

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 65 years and older (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Subjects will be recruited from Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has 5 outpatient geriatric medicine clinics that continuously for 5 days per week and see 4000 new patients per year.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• each subject must be 65 years of age or greater

Exclusion Criteria:

• hemodialysis patients will be excluded, due to excessive fluid shifts with dialysis
• patients using chronic oral corticosteroids will be excluded, due to potential muscle atrophy
• hemiparesis due to a stroke or paresis of the lower limbs will be excluded
• subjects with pitting edema on physical exam (due to liver, renal or heart failure) or patients that are severely dehydrated will be excluded
• patients with myositis, systemic connective tissue disorders, systemic atrophies affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and CNS demyelinating diseases will be excluded

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Case-Only
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
US measurement for Sarcopenia	o establish PoCUS measures (muscle thickness, MT; echointensity, EI) as a new screening test for sarcopenia	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Weight in kg	weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m^2	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Height in cm	weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m^2	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Handgrip strength in kg	Handgrip strength cutoffs for sarcopenia for men and women	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of British Columbia
• Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 27, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): May 1, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 2, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2022
• Last Verified: October 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neuromuscular Manifestations; Pathological Conditions, Anatomical; Muscular Atrophy; Atrophy; Sarcopenia
• Other Study ID Numbers: H20-01355

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No