Association Between Sarcopenia Risk and Dysphagia Risk in Older Adults Not Certified for Long-Term Care Insurance in Japan.

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the risk of sarcopenia and dysphagia in community-dwelling older adults aged 75 years and older who are not certified for long-term care insurance.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used self-administered questionnaires, including the SARC-F for sarcopenia risk and the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10) for dysphagia risk, mailed to 1,000 randomly selected community-dwelling older adults aged 75 years and older who were not certified for long-term care insurance in Japan. Participants were classified according to their risk of sarcopenia (SARC-F ≥4) or dysphagia (EAT-10 ≥3). The association between sarcopenia and dysphagia risks was analyzed using chi-squared tests and logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and previous history of diseases that may cause dysphagia.

RESULTS

Of 568 participants (median age 79.0 years, 282 {49.6%} male) with valid responses, 68 (12.0%) and 93 (16.4%) were in the sarcopenia and dysphagia risk groups, respectively. A significantly higher proportion of participants in the sarcopenia risk group were also classified in the dysphagia risk group (32 {47%} participants, p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis confirmed the association between sarcopenia risk and dysphagia risk (odds ratio: 5.2; 95% confidence interval: 2.91-9.29).

CONCLUSIONS

We identified an association between sarcopenia and dysphagia risk in community-dwelling older adults who are not certified for long-term care insurance, with a significantly higher proportion of the sarcopenia risk group at risk for dysphagia. Our findings suggest that incorporating dysphagia screening into existing community-based sarcopenia screening efforts may be an effective approach to identifying older adults at risk for both conditions.