127 / 290
2
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
3
Vall d
’
Hebrón University Hospital,
Barcelona, Spain;
4
University of Pittsburgh, PA,
5
Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, NY,
6
National Institute on Aging, MD, USA
Introduction:
Gait abnormalities are common even in well-function-
ing older adults. In particular, those attributable to sub-clinical
neurological disease are associated with disability, falls, dementia
and death. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of neurologic-
type qualitative gait abnormalities (NQGA) with comorbidities and
clinical characteristics in older community-dwellers of the Healthy
Brain Project.
Methods:
The Healthy Brain Project enrolled community-dwelling
older adults without previous psychological or neurological illnesses.
We detected NQGA using standardized and validated readings of
video-records (adapted from Verghese et al). Non-neurological
abnormalities were included in the control group. We also assessed
demographics, vascular risk factors and comorbidities, a neurologi-
cal exam, cognitive function (3MSE and Digit-Symbol Substitution test
[DSST]), and brain MRI (with measures of cerebral volumes and
connectivity).
Results:
Of the 183 participants (mean age + SD = 83,2 + 2,6 years, 55%
women, 58% caucasian), 52 (28%) had NQGA. Subjects with NQGA
were older (p = 0,017), with higher prevalence of diabetes (p = 0,001)
and hypertension (p = 0,019), poorer self-reported eyesight (p = 0,02)
and self-reported health (p = 0,001). NQGA were associated with
abnormal Romberg Test (p = 0,003), abnormal sense of position
(p = 0,002) and slower 4-m gait (p < 0,001), as well as with higher
white matter hyperintensity volume (p = 0,024), reduced fractional
anisotropy (p = 0,031) and worse DSST performance (p = 0,003), but
not with 3MS.
Key conclusions:
In our sample of community-dwelling older adults
without clinical neurological diseases, neurological abnormalities
of gait were associated with slower gait, neurological signs, poorer
attention and psychomotor speed, leukoaraiosis and reduced white
matter connectivity, as well as cardiovascular risk factors. Further
investigations should ascertain if subclinical cerebrovascular disease
might explain such gait abnormalities.
P-346
Old men in the department of geriatrics have extremely low
testosterone levels
L. Rygaard, L. Usinger, M. Midttun.
Medical Department O, Copenhagen
University Hospital Herlev, Denmark
Introduction:
Several studies in old men have shown a decline in
testosterone with increasing age, and hypogonadism is associated
with sarcopenia, mobility limitations, and low physical performance
as well as a high risk of falling. Few studies have investigated the oldest
part of the male population though. Aim: The aim of this study was to
examine testosterone levels in old men admitted to the department of
geriatrics in a period of three month.
Method:
Total serum testosterone was measured in 38 of 61 male
patients admitted to the department of geriatrics. They had an average
age of 84.7 (70
–
96) years. The hospital records were examined for the
cause of hospitalization, and comorbidity was registered in the
Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).
Results:
Thirty eight men had an average level of serum total
testosterone of 6.1 nmol/L (1.2
–
20.4 nmol/L). The group of patients
had a CCI of average 1.9. Hospital records described that 37% of the
group had been falling within 24 hours prior to hospitalization, and
74% were described with risk of falling.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicated that the oldest men have an
extremely low level of testosterone. They have considerable comorbid-
ity and risk of falling. Their condition seems multifactorial, but the
low testosterone levels may be playing a role. Further studies are
needed to investigate this very old and frail group of patients to see if
testosterone replacement therapy and/or physical training could
possibly increase testosterone levels and thereby prevent falls and
hospitalization.
P-347
Incidence of sarcopenia in elderly cancer patients
S.G. Panousopoulos
1
, Ch. Christodoulou
1
, N. Mainas
1
, H. Katsoulis
1
,
C.M. Stamou
2
, I.G. Karaitianos
1
.
1
"St. Savvas
’
Cancer Hospital,
2
“
Metropolitan
”
Hospital, Athens, Greece
Objectives:
Sarcopenia is associated with age and chronic disease,
including cancer, and has been shown to lead to poor physical
function, infections, higher morbidity in surgical patients and longer
length of hospital stay and rehabilitation periods. Our aim is to
evaluate the incidence of sarcopenia in cancer patients, focusing on
the elderly subgroup.
Methods:
In this study we included 328 patients treated for cancer
between March 2015 and January 2016. Of these, 66.5% were male and
33.5% female. 44.5% were younger than 65 years, 30.8% were between
65 and 74 years old and 24.7% were older than 75. All cancer diagnoses
were included. Patients who were only eligible for palliative treat-
ment at the time of diagnosis were not included. Sarcopenia was
evaluated by use of the CT analysis at the level of the L3 vertebra
(Slice-O-Matic V4.3 software (Tomovision, Montreal)). Cutoff values
were <38.5 cm
2
* m
−
2
for female patients and <52.4 cm
2
* m
−
2
for male
patients.
Results:
In patients younger than 65 years, sarcopenia was present in
66.4%. In the elderly group, sarcopeniawas present in 76.2% of patients
aged 65
–
74, and in 79.1% of patients older than 75. In all age groups,
sarcopenia was more frequent in male than in female patients (66.7%
vs 66%, 82.6% vs 62.5%, 86.8% vs 64.3% respectively).
Conclusion:
Cancer patients in Greece are susceptible to sarcopenia.
Age seems to directly correlate to sarcopenia in cancer patients,
leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Accurate evaluation and
support is paramount in order to provide better care for elderly cancer
patients.
P-348
Sleep apnea, falls and sarcopenia in older adults: preliminary
results from the FALL-Aging- SLEEP Study
A. Monti
1,2
, M. Girard-Bon
3,4
, M. Doulazmi
3,4
, R. Pham
3,4
,
A. Breining
1,2
, V.H. Nguyen
1,5
, E. Pautas
1,2,3
, K. Kinugawa
1,3,4,5
.
1
AP-HP,
DHU FAST, GH Pitie-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, F-75013, Paris,
2
Assistance
Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris, Acute Geriatric Care, Pitié-Salpétrière-
Charles-Foix Hospital, Ivry-Sur-Seine,
3
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC
University Paris 6,
4
CNRS, UMR 8256 Biological Adaptation and Aging,
F-75005, Paris,
5
Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris, France
Objectives:
Sleep disturbances increase the risk of falls among older
people. We aimed to examine prevalence of falls and sarcopenia
among older patients with and without sleep apnea (SA).
Methods:
Acute care setting patients aged
≥
75 were proposed to
participate to the FALL-A-SLEEP Study since March 2015. Subjective
sleep questionnaires (e.g Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)), nocturnal
polygraphy (SA defined by AHI > 15/hr), handgrip strength and short
physical performance battery (SPPB), Dual Energy X-ray absorpti-
ometry (skeletal muscle mass (SMI)), were performed in a stabilized
medical situation.
Results:
Complete evaluation was available for 45 patients (mean age
81.9 years, 33 women). Between SA (n = 28, mean AHI = 39.7/hr) and
non-SA (n = 17, mean AHI = 4.6/hr) patients, nap was more frequent
among SA patients (65.51% vs 29.41%, p-value = 0.023) but ESS (5.9 vs
4.9, p-value = 0.275) was not different. ADL (5.56 vs 5.71, p = 0.883),
Charlson score (1.7 vs 2.47, p = 0.301), and Rockwood score (4.37 vs
4.29, p = 0.861) were not different. Falls (77.7% vs 56.25%, p-value =
0.137), mean SPPB score (5.3/12 vs 7.3/12, p-value = 0.0771), SMI
(7.03 kg/m
2
vs 6.17, p-value = 0.603), mean handgrip (17.83 kg vs 17.97,
p-value = 0.799) and sarcopenia defined by EWGSOP (60.9% vs 61.5%,
p-value = 0.96) were not statistically different between SA and non-SA
patients. CRP level at the entrance to the hospital (47.44 vs 31.53,
p-value = 0.016), duration to get up and sit down 5 times (21.15s vs
12.73s, p-value = 0.05), were statistically different.
Poster presentations / European Geriatric Medicine 7S1 (2016) S29
–
S259
S121