Research

Mixed

Sarcopenic Obesity (SO) is associated with significant deterioration in functional exercise capacity (6MWD) over 6 months, even when gait speed changes are not statistically significant.

For older adults with both sarcopenia and obesity, functional decline may manifest as reduced walking distance rather than slower walking speed. Regular assessment of walking capacity (like the 6-minute walk test) is important to detect deterioration in this group.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
We observed a significant change from baseline for 6MWD in the SO subgroup (-18.30 ± 81.95 m; p = 0.013)... Interestingly, the SO subgroup showed a significant decrease in the 6MWD, close to clinically meaningful change of 20 m as defined in [31].
Roger A. Fielding et al. · BMC Geriatrics · 2025

Why this rating

Observational data with nominal p-values; significant finding in a large subgroup (78.7% of completers).

Source

Characterizing sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in patients aged 65 years and over, at risk of mobility disability: a multicenter observational trial (SARA-OBS)

Roger A. Fielding et al. · BMC Geriatrics · 2025

DOI 10.1186/s12877-025-05895-9

cohort · n=185Cited 2×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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