Introduction: The global population of older individuals is rapidly increasing. Sarcopenia is a serious medical issue for seniors, leading to increased interest in validating novel screening approaches for its detection in routine clinical practice. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of irisin and musculoskeletal ultrasonography (MSUS) as screening instruments for sarcopenia. Patients and methods: This study is a case–control study of 81participants divided into three groups: (a) older adults with sarcopenia, (b) older adults without sarcopenia, and (c) normal young controls. SARC-F score was used in both older adult groups to screen for sarcopenia. Serum irisin level was measured in the three groups, and thigh muscle thickness (TMT) measurement using MSUS was done for the older people groups. Results: Regarding serum irisin level, our results revealed that the mean irisin level was 2.55 ± 0.80, 6.32 ± 1.03, and 10.18 ± 2.05 ng/ml within groups A, B and C, respectively, with statistically significant differences among the three compared groups (P < 0.001). On measuring TMT using MSUS, the means of TMT were 27.95 ± 4.59 and 38.10 ± 3.51 mm in groups A and B, respectively, where the difference is statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Serum irisin can be utilized as a new biomarker for detecting sarcopenia. Thigh muscle ultrasound is a cost-effective and available radiological tool that could be helpful in the diagnosis of sarcopenia.
Sabagh et al. (Sun,) studied this question.