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Abstract
Background
Sarcopenia, which is commonly associated with ageing, is increasingly prevalent among individuals with significant obesity and massive weight loss (MWL). This study aimed to evaluate the muscle strength of MWL patients who desired body contouring surgery (BCS) due to the excess skin.
Methods
This prospective study enrolled 23 patients with MWL who were eligible for BCS. Participants underwent three distinct muscle strength tests with age- and gender-related references: the hand grip strength test (HGS), the squatting test, and the dynamic muscle strength of the body (DMSoB).
Results
The cohort comprised 18 (78.3%) women and five (21.8%) men with a mean age of 45.7 years and body mass index (BMI) of 26.9 kg/m2. Among the participants, 17 (73.9%) had previously undergone bariatric surgery (BS group), while six (26.1%) had achieved weight loss through the non-surgery method (non-BS-group). In the HGS test, 87% of the participants reached only the lowest (poor) or second lowest (fair) fitness levels. In the squatting test, 73.8% of the participants reached above the intermediate level or better. Only 8.7% of the participants had a lower fitness level. In the dynamic muscle strength test, 69.7% of the participants reached the lowest (poor) level.
Conclusions
This preliminary study showed that patients with prior MWL exhibited lower muscle strength than the age- and gender-matched general population. In particular, the HGS results suggested the possibility of sarcopenia.
Ethics Committee approval
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS/2558/2016).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).