Elderly diabetics rapidly lose muscle strength

NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) Elderly people with type 2 diabetes have an accelerated loss of skeletal muscle strength compared with their counterparts without diabetes, Korean and US researchers report in the current issue of Diabetes Care.

Lead investigator Dr Seok Won Park told Reuters Health that elderly adults with diabetes lose leg muscle strength about 50 per cent faster than their peers without diabetes, which may explain the two-fold higher risk of physical disability in diabetics.

To investigate the changes in muscle mass and strength in ommunity-dwelling older adults with or without type 2 diabetes, Park of Bundang CHA University, Sungnam, and colleagues studied data for 1,840 subjects between 70 and 79 years old. Of this group, 305 had type 2 diabetes.

Leg and arm muscle mass and strength were measured at study entry and 3 years later. The diabetic group showed statistically significant greater declines in leg muscle mass than did the subjects without diabetes. Leg muscle strength and maximum leg muscle strength per unit of muscle mass also declined more in the diabetics.

The researchers observed no between-group differences in changes in arm muscle strength and quality.

Park and colleagues also noted however that the approximate ''50 per cent more rapid decline in the knee extensor strength in older adults with diabetes was not accounted for by a greater loss of leg muscle mass.'' These and other findings, suggest that diabetes may cause functional impairments in the muscular function of the legs that are not necessarily accompanied by the loss of muscle mass.

REUTERS SW KP0858