Influence of sarcopenia on functional independence and depression in older adults: a cross-sectional study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Differences in physical function, encompassing activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and depression were evaluated across degrees of sarcopenic severity in older adults. A total of 236 participants (78.72±6.92 years), comprising 101 men and 135 women, were classified into four groups: no sarcopenia (23.7%), possible sarcopenia (26.3%), sarcopenia (28.0%), and severe sarcope-nia (22.0%). Sarcopenic measures included calf girth, grip strength, 5-time chair stand test, and appendicular skeletal muscle mass. Func-tional status was assessed using Barthel Index for ADL and Lawton & Brody index for IADL, while depression was measured using the Geriat-ric Depression Scale-15. All sarcopenic indices differed significantly between groups, with large effect sizes (η2=0.340–0.532). ADL and IADL declined with increasing sarcopenic severity, and after age and sex ad-justments, physical function (all P<0.001) and depressive symptoms re-mained significantly different across groups. Analysis of covariance showed that age was independently associated with ADL, IADL, and depression. The association between sarcopenia severity and ADL dif-fered by sex (P=0.011), whereas the relationships of sarcopenia severi-ty with IADL and depression were not influenced by sex. These findings suggest that greater sarcopenia severity is associated with poorer physical function and a higher burden of depressive symptoms. Howev-er, while the relationship between sarcopenia severity and ADL ap-pears to be influenced by sex, the associations of IADL and depression with sarcopenia severity seem to be largely driven by age rather than sex.
Authors: Tae-Hyun Yoon, Yong-Seok Jee
Institution: Hanseo University
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204259117
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