Association between physical, cognitive and social activities with the incident of sarcopenia among community-dwelling older adults: A four-year longitudinal study

Abstract Purpose The purpose of the present study was to comprehensively examine the association between inadequate physical activity (PA), cognitive activity (CA), and social activity (SA) and the development of sarcopenia. Methods We conducted a two-wave survey. In the first-wave survey, we asked participants five questions for each of the three categories—PA, CA, and SA—. The low-activity group was defined as those who fell into the decline category for one or more of the five questions. In both Wave 1 and Wave 2, we assessed the sarcopenia status of our participants. Sarcopenia was defined using the revised definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2. Results In the second wave, we were able to follow 2,530 participants. A multivariable logistic regression showed that lowPA participants face a higher risk of incident sarcopenia, both before and after multiple imputations (odds ratio [OR] 1.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22–2.15 before imputation; OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.21–2.18 after imputation); the lowSA group also showed a higher risk of incident sarcopenia both before and after multiple imputations (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.05–1.64 before imputation; OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.07–1.65 after imputation). Conclusion Each low PA and SA independently led to incident sarcopenia late in life. Encouraging not only PA, but also SA, may be effective to prevent sarcopenia among older adults.