Abstract:
Objective To investigate the influencing factors for sarcopenia and the orthostatic blood pressure characteristics in elderly hospitalized patients.
Methods A total of 271 elderly participants were consecutively enrolled. Demographic data, medical history, medication use, laboratory indices, body composition, grip strength, gait speed, and supine-to-standing blood pressure and heart rate measurements were collected. According to the 2019 diagnostic criteria of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia, participants were divided into sarcopenia group (n = 63) and non-sarcopenia group (n = 208). Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for sarcopenia. Independent-sample t-tests, chi-square tests, Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation, and partial correlation analysis were used to examine the relationship between sarcopenia indicators and orthostatic blood pressure changes.
Results Compared with non-sarcopenic patients, those with sarcopenia were older, had a higher proportion of males, and exhibited lower body mass index (BMI), skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), grip strength, gait speed, and hemoglobin, along with higher nutritional risk and proportion of Parkinson's disease (all P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression identified age (OR = 1.104, 95%CI: 1.054 to 1.156), Parkinson's disease (OR = 10.900, 95%CI: 2.537 to 46.836) were risk factors, while BMI (OR = 0.628, 95%CI: 0.543 to 0.727) and female sex (OR = 0.264, 95%CI: 0.118 to 0.592) were protective factors for sarcopenia (all P < 0.001). The prevalence of orthostatic hypotension (OH) was higher in the sarcopenia group than in the non-sarcopenia group (41.3% vs. 26.4%, χ2 = 5.073, P = 0.024). Compared with non-sarcopenic patients, those with sarcopenia showed larger drops in systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 1 and 3 minutes after standing, along with a more pronounced compensatory increase in heart rate (all P < 0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between OH and sarcopenia (r = 0.137, P = 0.024). Partial correlation analysis further revealed that SMI was significantly positively correlated with change in diastolic blood pressure (ΔDBP) at 1 min and 3 min after standing (r = 0.123, P = 0.044; r = 0.135, P = 0.027, respectively), and both left and right grip strength were significantly negatively correlated with change in heart rate (ΔHR) at 3 min after standing (left grip strength: r = –0.180, P = 0.003; right grip strength: r = –0.122, P = 0.046).
Conclusions Advancing age, Parkinson's disease, male sex, and low BMI are major risk factors for sarcopenia. Elderly hospitalized patients with sarcopenia exhibit greater drops in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after standing, along with more pronounced compensatory heart rate increases that are insufficient to maintain blood pressure stability, resulting in a higher risk of OH.