Association between sarcopenia-related phenotypes and aerobic capacity indexes of older women

the purpose of the present study was to examine the associationbetween fat-free mass (ffm), quadriceps strength and sarcopeniawith aerobic fitness indexes of elderly women. a total of189 volunteers (66.7 ± 5.46 years) underwent aerobic capacitymeasurement through a symptom-limited cardiopulmonaryexercise test to determine their individual ventilatory thresholds(vt) and peak oxygen uptake (vo2 peak). quadriceps musclestrength was assessed using an isokinetic dynamometer. also,dual energy x-ray absorptiometry was used to assess ffm andcutoff values were used to classify subjects as sarcopenic ornonsarcopenic. correlations, student t-test and analysis of variancewere used to examine the data. both ffm and quadricepsstrength variables were positively and significantly correlatedwith the measured aerobic capacity indexes. these results wereobserved for peak exercise as well as for ventilatory thresholds.individuals classified as sarcopenic presented significantlylower muscle strength and (vo2 peak) when compared to nonsarcopenic.it can be concluded that ffm and quadricepsstrength are significantly related to aerobic capacity indexes inolder women, and that besides presenting lower quadricepsstrength, women classified as sarcopenic have lower peak oxygenconsumption. taken together, the present results indicatethat both ffm and strength play a role in the age-related declineof aerobic capacity.