The Impact of Sarcopenic Obesity and Age-Related Ophthalmological Conditions on Daily Activities
Authors: Agarkov N. M. , Kopylov A. E. 
Published: November 2024

INTRIDUCTION. Diverse functional limitations, such as visual deficits and sarcopenic obesity, result in reduced activity levels in the daily routines of these patients. However, when assessing the basic functional activity of patients with sarcopenic obesity and visual impairment, it is essential to take into consideration, first and foremost, specific changes in daily activities caused by ophthalmologic pathology, which can be difficult to identify using existing scales such as the Barthel scale, which do not reflect the impairments that have occurred to the visual organ and the resulting visual deficit.

OBJECTIVE. The study was conducted to validate a test assessing the basic functional activity of patients with visual impairment, with a specific focus on individuals with ophthalmological pathology and sarcopenic obesity.

METHODS. A study was conducted on 125 older patients with sarcopenic obesity and cataracts, as well as 138 patients with sarcopenic obesity and primary glaucoma of similar age. The research excluded individuals with frailty or severe cognitive impairment. Diagnosis of sarcopenic obesity was determined following the guidelines recommended by The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP, 2018). The authors utilized a previously tested and validated assessment tool to study the daily activities of these patient groups and their basic functional activity in visual impairments. The proposed test consisted of 8 questions that are most commonly associated with visual impairments: how easy or difficult it is to thread a needle, read text, cut paper of a certain size, trim nails, distinguish numbers on a phone, write text, count money, and distinguish the colors of clothing items. Each question had the same answer gradation: easy (0 points); difficult to do, but I can handle it (1 point); I can't do it (2 points). The maximum number of points on this test corresponded to 16 points. Depending on the number of points, activities in daily life were classified into: mild dependence (0–6 points), moderate (average) — 7–10 points, pronounced (complete) dependence — 11–16 points.

RESULTS. The study of patients with sarcopenic obesity, cataracts, and glaucoma in their daily activities with our created test identified statistically significant differences in basic functionalities within the examined groups. Threading a needle causes the greatest dependence on others in patients with sarcopenic obesity and cataracts (1,84 ± 0,03 points) with a statistically significant difference both in relation to patients with sarcopenic obesity and glaucoma (1,52 ± 0,02 points) (p < 0,01). Severe limitations of activity in the daily life of patients with sarcopenic obesity and cataracts are caused by nail clipping (1,75 ± 0,03 points) versus 1,43 ± 0,04 points in glaucoma (p < 0,01). Despite the significant differences in average scores for these types of activities in everyday life, these types of restrictions dominate in both groups.

CONCLUSION. The use of our test for assessing the basic functional activity in patients with ophthalmic disorders and sarcopenic obesity has allowed us to identify the main limitations and specific characteristics in these patients with visual impairments of various origins and sarcopenic obesity.