To explore the relationship between sarcopenia and asthenia syndrome in the elderly.

134 elderly people, who had complete physical examination information admitted in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region People's Hospital from September 2017 to March 2018 were selected. Clinical data were collected for evaluation. Asthenia syndrome was estimated by American Fried 5 criterions, sarcopenia was estimated by myodynamia (grip strength measurement), muscle function (daily walking speed measurement), standing walk measurement, 5 sit up tests and balance test. Analysis of variance was used to compare measurement data between groups. The count data was compared using Kruskal-Wallis test. The correlation between degree of asthenia and muscle indicators was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis.

The differences of age, weight loss, decline in living activity, balance and gait, the risk of falling, malnutrition, mental psychology, multiple medication, sleep disorder, hearing loss, number of teeth missing, urinary incontinence, pressure sore and asthenia score among 3 groups were statistically significant (all P < 0.01). There were no statistical significance differences in malnutrition, pressure sore, the risk of falling and number of teeth missing between no asthenia group and early asthenia group (all P > 0.05). The differences of grip, step speed, skeletal muscle quality of all fours,5 sit up tests , balance test and standing walk measurement among 3 groups were statistically significant (F=3 101.631, 66.308, 598.000, χ²=14.808, 19.972, 25.343, all P < 0.01). Correlation analysis results showed that the score of degree of asthenia and grip, step speed and score of skeletal muscle quality of all fours were all negatively correlated (r=-0.152, -0.500, -0.358, P < 0.05 or 0.01).

Sarcopenia is the main cause of asthenia syndrome. The change of muscle related indexes may be an important indication in the development of asthenia syndrome.