Skeletal muscle mass assessment to detect low muscle mass: Regional or total?

Abstract

Sarcopenia has first been defined as skeletal muscle mass (SMM) loss by Rosenberg in 1989. Since then, many efforts have been undertaken to define sarcopenia by expert consensus groups and individual studies[1].In these reports, some suggested assessing low muscle mass (LMM) by evaluating appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM), some by total SMM, and others suggested that both approaches are acceptable [1].