Effect of Home-Based Exercise Program in Older Adults With Sarcopenia

Effect of Home-Based Exercise Program on Physical Function and Balance in Older Adults With Sarcopenia: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Study

In the prospective, randomized, controlled multi-centre study, 100 patients who were clinically diagnosed with sarcopenia were assigned to either a home-based exercise group or the control group. The home-based exercise program was performed three days per week for 12 weeks. Before and three months after the exercise program, all the patients were evaluated.

Sarcopenia is a complex and multifactorial syndrome characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength.The randomized, multicenter study was conducted at the physical medicine and rehabilitation departments of five different centers. One hundred patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomly allocated to either a home-based exercise group (n=50) or a control group (n=50). The patients were evaluated before and 3 months after inclusion using the timed up and go test, the Berg balance scale, the 6-minute walk test , a numeric rating scale to determine QoL, and the number of falls.

Inclusion Criteria:

community-dwelling older adult diagnosis of sarcopenia according to the clinical examination; and able to walk independently. The physical performance of patients with a SARC-F score ≥4 were tested using a gait speed test and a short physical performance battery (SPPB). The diagnosis of sarcopenia was confirmed in cases where the patient's gait speed was ≤0.8 m/s and the SPPB score was ≤8

Exclusion Criteria:

having cardiovascular, pulmonary, and/or chronic diseases that may affect participation in the exercise program; impaired cognition; previous diagnosis of a neurological condition that severely affected mobility and balance; malignancy; metastatic cancer; serious vision loss or vestibular impairment