Monitoring sarcopenic obesity in the elderly

描述(由申请人提供)： 老年人的肥胖可以通过身体成分的变化来掩盖，从而导致净体重下降。骨质疏松症是一种随年龄增长而丧失肌肉和功能的疾病，在老年人中普遍存在。骨质疏松症固有的蛋白质储存减少会使老年人应对疾病或受伤的能力降低。脂肪含量增加和骨质疏松症相结合，导致了一种被称为“骨质源性肥胖”的身体成分状态。这种情况不能通过人体测量或其他传统的间接身体成分方法进行评估。 拟议研究的目的是开发和测试一种便携式和相对便宜的仪器(X射线吸收计)，用于在野外进行软组织的身体成分分析。这些测量对于提供个人营养状况指数很重要，并将用于评估合成代谢治疗、营养支持和儿童和成人肥胖症管理的益处和风险。由于携带方便、价格低廉、使用简单，该仪器将允许评估个人在自己环境中的营养健康状况。对于那些难以或有限地去医院的人(例如，养老院或辅助生活中的老年人)或在正在评估积极的营养支持计划的欠发达国家，这将特别有益。该设计基于单能量和双能量X射线吸收测量仪(DXA)，针对软组织进行了优化。该仪器是一个手持卡尺，带有一个准直的X射线源和一个探测器。使用简单的探测器阵列将有助于卡尺的定位。该仪器将接受单能量模式和双能量模式的评估，并将与大腿中部CT和参考全身组成技术进行测试。这项研究的结果将是一种完全开发和测试的仪器及其在实地使用的方法。在现有的简单方法(如身体质量指数)无法识别脂肪组织的真实水平和脆弱程度的情况下，这种便携式仪器将特别适用于监测老年人的骨骼肥胖症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity in the elderly can be masked by body composition changes that result in a net weight loss. Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle and function with age, is universal in the elderly. The reduced protein stores inherent in sarcopenia leave the elderly with decreased ability to cope with illness or injury. The combination of increased %fat and sarcopenia results in a body composition status described as "sarcopenic obesity". This condition cannot be assessed by anthropometry or other traditional indirect body composition methods. The purpose of the proposed research is to develop and test a portable and relatively inexpensive instrument (X-ray absorptiometer) for carrying out body composition analysis of soft tissue in the field. These measurements are important for providing an index of nutritional status of individuals and will be used to evaluate the benefits and risks of anabolic treatments, nutritional support and the management of obesity in children and adults. Being portable, inexpensive, and simple to use, the instrument will permit the evaluation of nutritional health status of individuals in their own environment. It will be particularly beneficial to those for whom access to hospitals is difficult or limited (e.g. elderly in nursing homes or assisted living) or in underdeveloped nations, where aggressive nutrition support programs are being evaluated. The design is based on single and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), optimized for soft tissue. The instrument is a hand-held caliper with a collimated X-ray source and a detector. The use of a simple detector array will facilitate the positioning of the caliper. The instrument will be evaluated for both single and dual energy mode and will be tested against mid-thigh CT and reference whole body composition techniques. The outcome of this research will be a fully developed and tested instrument and a method for its use in the field. This portable instrument will be particularly useful for monitoring sarcopenic obesity in the elderly where existing simple methods (such as Body Mass Index) fail to identify the true level of adipose tissue and frailty.