A study on relationship between elderly sarcopenia and inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α

• Published in: European journal of medical research Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 25 - 8
• Main Authors: Bian, Ai-Lin, Hu, Hui-Ying, Rong, Yu-Dong, Wang, Jian, Wang, Jun-Xiong, Zhou, Xin-Zi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 12.07.2017; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Albumin; Biomarkers - blood; Biomedicine; Body composition; Body Mass Index; Bone Density; Cardiovascular disease; Chronic illnesses; Creatinine - blood; Cytokines; Diabetes; Elders; Enzymes; Exercise; Family medical history; Female; Fractures; Hand Strength; Humans; IL-6; Infectious Diseases; Inflammation; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-6 - blood; Internal Medicine; Kidney diseases; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Musculoskeletal system; Older people; Oncology; Physical fitness; Physiological aspects; Proteins; Risk factors; Sarcopenia; Sarcopenia - blood; Sarcopenia - epidemiology; Serum Albumin - metabolism; Skeletal muscle reduction; Smoking - adverse effects; Studies; Surgery; TNF-α; Tumor necrosis factor; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - blood; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Working groups; Skeletal muscle reduction; TNF-α; Elders; IL-6
• ISSN: 2047-783X; 0949-2321; 2047-783X
• DOI: 10.1186/s40001-017-0266-9

Background This report aims to study the relationship between sarcopenia of elderly in community and inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α. Methods A total of 441 elders who undertook physical examinations were included into this study. The age of these subjects were >60, in which 235 subjects were male and 206 subjects were female. According to the diagnostic standards of sarcopenia set by EWGSOP and AWGS, these subjects were divided into two groups: sarcopenia, and non-sarcopenia groups. The living habits, disease status, biochemical indexes, and levels of IL-6 and TNF-α of these subjects were investigated. Results The morbidity rate of sarcopenia was 17.02% in male subjects and 18.9% in female subjects. In elderly subjects >80 years old, morbidity rate was 25.3% in male subjects and 35.1% in female subjects. The history of smoking in patients with sarcopenia was long, and their regular exercise history was short ( P  < 0.01). Furthermore, differences in handgrip strength (HG), fat-free mass (FFM), bone mineral content (BMC), plasma albumin (ALB) and serum creatinine (Cr), and body fat content (FAT) in patients between the sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia groups were statistically significant ( P  < 0.05). Moreover, differences in IL-6 and TNF-α levels between these two groups were statistically significant ( P  < 0.05). In addition, BMI was positively correlated to TNF-α levels, and ALB was negatively correlated to IL-6; while BMI and VFA were positively correlated to TNF-α levels, and SMM, HDL-C, Hb, HG were negatively correlated to IL-6 level ( P  < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis suggested plasma ALB and BMI were the independent risk factors of TNF-α, while VFA was the independent risk factor of IL-6. Conclusions The onset of sarcopenia was associated with poor exercise habits, disease history, and nutritional status. The emergence of sarcopenia was accompanied by increased levels of inflammation factors TNF-α and IL-6. Plasma albumin, BMI, and VFA were inflammatory factor predictors of TNF and IL-6.