Why are we not exploring the potential of lower limb muscle power to identify people with sarcopenia?
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and expert viewpoint with no new empirical data
PubMed 39818236 · doi:10.1016/j.arr.2025.102662
What was done
This viewpoint appraised the rationale for using lower limb muscle power—the capacity to generate force rapidly—rather than conventional muscle strength to identify sarcopenia in geriatric and non-geriatric populations, and reviewed current research challenges.
What was found
No quantitative data were reported in the abstract. The authors stated that muscle power declines earlier and more drastically than muscle strength and has stronger associations with adverse health-related outcomes.
Why it matters
Standard sarcopenia definitions relying on muscle strength show conflicting predictive validity for adverse events. Transitioning to or incorporating muscle power could improve the early detection of clinically relevant muscle failure.
Limits
This is a narrative viewpoint with no primary empirical data, systematic search strategy, or quantitative synthesis. The abstract presents no sample sizes or standardized diagnostic cutoffs.
Cited by
- supports Muscle power starts declining earlier and declines more rapidly with age than muscle mass or muscle strength.