Page 224 - Petelin, Ana. 2021. Ed. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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In Table 5 the model after controlling for sex, age, body mass index, MNA
malnutrition category, energy intake, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart
disease, depression, COPD and physical activity level is shown. An increased
risk of sarcopenia (R2 = 0.756) was found in older adults with a low dietary in-
take of n-3 fatty acid (OR 0.002, 95% CI 0.000-0.461, p = .025), body mass in-
dex (OR 0.611, 95% CI 0.438-0.853, p = .004), physical activity level (OR 0.001,
95% CI 0.000-0.873, p = .048), with the presence of diabetes mellitus (OR 0.006,
95% CI 0.000-0.170, p = .003), hypertension (OR 0.063, 95% CI 0.005-0.768, p
= .030), and were older (OR 1.172, 95% CI 1.016-1.352, p = .030). Sex, MNA mal-
nutrition category, energy intake, heart disease, depression, and COPD did not
achieve statistical significance in this model (p ≥ .092).

Table 5: Regression coefficients and odds ratios (and 95% CIs) for risk
factors associated with sarcopenia

zdravje starostnikov | health of the elderly 222 Factor ß-value Model II Odds ratio (95% CI)
n-3 fatty acid (g) -6.226 p-value 0.002 (0.000-0.461)
Age (years) 0.159
Physical activity level -12.527 .025 1.172 (1.016-1.352)
Body mass index (kg/ .030 0.000 (0.000-0.873)
m2) -0.492 .048
Diabetes mellitus (pres- 0.611 (0.438-0.853)
ence) -5.039 .004
Hypertension (presence) 0.006 (0.000-0.170)
-2.768 .003
0.063 (0.005-0.768)
.030

Note. Binary logistic analyses were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence
interval (CI) of factors related to sarcopenia. Adjusted model for sex, age, body mass index,
MNA malnutrition categories, energy intake, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart disease,
depression, COPD and physical activity level.

Discussion
Deficiencies in both macronutrients and micronutrients can be considered as a
risk factor for sarcopenia, because such deficiencies can accelerate age-depend-
ent changes in body composition, involving the loss of muscle mass, strength
and function (Walrand et al., 2011; Volkert et al., 2018; Beaudart et al., 2019). We
aimed to investigated nutritional factors that may be associated with the aeti-
ology of sarcopenia by comparing the habitual dietary intake of the sarcopen-
ic and nonsarcopenic groups of older adults.

The findings show that older adults in the sarcopenic group were more
likely at risk of malnutrition (42.3%) than those in the nonsarcopenic group
(13.5%) and demonstrate a higher rate of co-morbidities such as diabetes mel-
litus and hypertension. According to the MNA, although none of the partici-
pants was malnourished, 20% were at risk of malnutrition. The proportion of
older adults who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition vary depending
on the cohort in the study. We found that the proportion of participants at risk
of malnutrition was as high as 42.5% in the nursing homes (Lardiés-Sánchez et
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