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Research Paper|Volume 13, Issue 7|pp 9330—9347

Effects of multi-domain lifestyle interventions on sarcopenia measures and blood biomarkers: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of community-dwelling pre-frail and frail older adults

Yanxia Lu1, Mathew Niti2, Keng Bee Yap3, Crystal Tze Ying Tan4, Ma Shwe Zin Nyunt5, Liang Feng5, Boon Yeow Tan6, Gribson Chan7, Sue Anne Khoo8, Sue Mei Chan9, Philip Yap10, Anis Larbi4,11, Tze Pin Ng5
  • 1Department of Medical Psychology and Ethics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China
  • 2Performance and Technology Assessment Department, Ministry of Health, Singapore
  • 3Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Medicine Department, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Singapore
  • 4Biology of Ageing Laboratory, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Immunos Building, Biopolis, Singapore
  • 5Gerontology Research Programme, Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Health System, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • 6Medical Services Department, St Luke’s Hospital, Singapore
  • 7Rehabilitation Services Division, St Luke’s Hospital, Singapore
  • 8Psychological Medicine Department, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore
  • 9Nutrition and Dietetics Department, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore
  • 10Geriatric Medicine Department, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore
  • 11Geriatrics Division, Department of Medicine, Research Center on Aging, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Received: November 3, 2020Accepted: February 9, 2021Published: March 19, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202705

Copyright: © 2021 Lu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Few studies have comprehensively described changes in blood biomarkers of the physiological responses underlying sarcopenia reduction associated with lifestyle interventions. In this study, we performed secondary analyses of data in a randomized controlled trial of multi-domain lifestyle interventions (6-month duration physical exercise, nutritional enrichment, cognitive training, combination and standard care control) among 246 community-dwelling pre-frail and frail elderly, aged ≥65 years, with and without sarcopenia. Appendicular lean mass (ALM), lower limb strength, gait speed, and blood levels of markers of muscle metabolism, inflammation, anti-oxidation, anabolic hormone regulation, insulin signaling, tissue oxygenation were measured at baseline, 3-month and 6-month post-intervention. Multi-domain interventions were associated with significant (p < 0.001) reduction of sarcopenia at 3-month and 6-month post-intervention, improved gait speed, enhanced lower limb strength, and were equally evident among sarcopenic participants who were slower at baseline than non-sarcopenic participants. Active intervention was associated with significantly reduced inflammation levels. Sarcopenia status and reduction were associated with blood biomarkers related to muscle metabolism, steroid hormone regulation, insulin-leptin signaling, and tissue oxygenation. Physical, nutritional and cognitive intervention was associated with measures of sarcopenia reduction, together with changes in circulating biomarkers of anabolic and catabolic metabolism underlying sarcopenia.