Sarсopenia

Abstract

Sarcopenia is a senile reduction in muscular force and mass. Sarсopenia prevalence and severity of manifestations have progressed together with the progress of medicine and development of the civilization. In the infancy of mankind, the problem was absent since people did not live to sarcopenia. Then for many thousand years, when old people were not numerous in the population, medicine was distracted by infectious epidemics and not interested in sarcopenia. Consequences of rapid aging of the population during the late 20th and early 21st centuries have brought sarcopenia from the shadows to the foreground as one of the most urgent problems of modern medicine. Sarcopenia acquired its name about 30 years ago, was included into the international classification of diseases a year ago, and today it is already called the geriatric giant. This increase in popularity is logical, and sarcopenia is worth even more extensive exploring for two reasons. First, sarcopenia causes many troubles of old age, such as physical weakness, depression, pains; impaired quality of life, optimism, and working capacity; more frequent traumas and disability; loss of independence; and high mortality. Second, sarcopenia complicates and reduces physical activity and, thereby, contributes to development of common diseases and non-infectious epidemics, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, dementia, inflammations, osteoporosis. Prevention and treatment of sarcopenia delays or prevents the arrival of its «satellites».