Although low muscle mass is an important predictor of increased physical morbidity in older patients, information on its impact on mental health and well-being is lacking. The first aim of this report is to look for associations if any between low muscle mass and mental health of older people in clinical practice. The second aim is to study underlying mechanisms including nutritional status. In this prospective longitudinal study we randomly selected and studied 432 hospitalized older patients’ baseline demographic data, clinical characteristics and nutritional status on admission, at 6 weeks and at 6 months. Low muscle mass was diagnosed using anthropometric measures based on the European Working Group criteria. Mental health outcome measures including cognitive state, depression symptoms and quality of life were also measured. Out of 432 patients assessed 44 (10%) were diagnosed with low muscle mass. Patients diagnosed with low muscle mass at admission and over a 6-month follow up period had significantly poor cognitive function, quality of life and increased depression symptoms compared with those with normal muscle mass. After adjustment for poor prognostic indicators, age, disability, severity of acute illness and low muscle mass were associated with poor cognitive function and quality of life and higher depression symptoms in older patients over a 6 months period (p < 0.05). Although patients with low muscle mass had lower micronutrient concentrations compared to those patients with normal muscle mass, only serum albumin showed significant correlations with quality of life at admission and depression symptoms at 6 weeks. Low muscle mass is associated with poor blood-borne poor nutritional status and mental health in hospitalized older patients, however, this is partly explained by underlying co morbidity.

中文翻译：

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老年患者肌肉质量低、血源性营养状况和心理健康之间的关联

尽管低肌肉质量是老年患者身体发病率增加的重要预测因素，但缺乏关于其对心理健康和幸福感影响的信息。本报告的第一个目的是寻找临床实践中老年人肌肉质量低与心理健康之间的关联。第二个目的是研究包括营养状况在内的潜在机制。在这项前瞻性纵向研究中，我们随机选择并研究了 432 名住院老年患者的基线人口统计数据、临床特征和入院时、6 周和 6 个月时的营养状况。使用基于欧洲工作组标准的人体测量方法诊断出低肌肉质量。还测量了包括认知状态、抑郁症状和生活质量在内的心理健康结果指标。在评估的 432 名患者中，有 44 名（10%）被诊断为肌肉质量低。与肌肉质量正常的患者相比，入院时和超过 6 个月随访期间被诊断为低肌肉质量的患者认知功能、生活质量和抑郁症状明显较差。在对不良预后指标进行调整后，年龄、残疾、急性疾病的严重程度和肌肉量低与 6 个月内老年患者的认知功能和生活质量差以及抑郁症状较高有关（p < 0.05）。尽管与肌肉质量正常的患者相比，肌肉质量低的患者微量营养素浓度较低，但只有血清白蛋白与入院时的生活质量和 6 周时的抑郁症状有显着相关性。