Huynh Andrew L H, Avramoudas Sophia, Andrews James, Jordan Nan, Yates Paul
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.
Department of Medicine, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2025 Aug 31;37(1):267. doi: 10.1007/s40520-025-03173-7.
Sarcopenia and frailty are associated with cognitive impairment, and both are associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Current assessments of sarcopenia are not routinely performed in memory clinics. Temporalis muscle thickness (TMT), which can be measured on routine memory clinic brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has been proposed as a surrogate biomarker of sarcopenia. However, the association of TMT and frailty has not been previously elucidated.
To explore the relationship between TMT, measured on coronal T1-weighted brain MRI and frailty, as assessed using a Frailty Index (FI), in a memory clinic cohort.
Retrospective cohort study of 140 patients who attended a memory clinic in a tertiary referral hospital in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. TMT and FI of patients with an adequate coronal T1-weighted brain MRI for assessment were collected. Comparisons of TMT between frail (FI ≥ 0.25) and non-frail patients were explored.
140 patients, median age 75.3 years old (interquartile range [IQR] 67.1-83.2 years old), 55% female. The median TMT was 5.5 mm (IQR 4.4-6.8 mm) and 34% were frail. People who were frail were more likely to be older (p < 0.001), have a lower MMSE (p = 0.003), and reduced TMT thickness (p = 0.011) compared to people who were not frail.
Reduced TMT, measured in coronal T1-weighted brain MRI is associated with frailty in this cohort. Future studies incorporating additional measures of sarcopenia (e.g. DXA, dynamometry) to validate the use of TMT in coronal T1-weighted brain MRI are warranted.
肌肉减少症和衰弱与认知障碍相关，且二者均与不良临床结局有关。目前在记忆门诊中并未常规进行肌肉减少症的评估。颞肌厚度（TMT）可通过记忆门诊常规的脑磁共振成像（MRI）进行测量，已被提议作为肌肉减少症的替代生物标志物。然而，此前尚未阐明TMT与衰弱之间的关联。
在一个记忆门诊队列中，探讨在冠状位T1加权脑MRI上测量的TMT与使用衰弱指数（FI）评估的衰弱之间的关系。
对2014年在澳大利亚墨尔本一家三级转诊医院记忆门诊就诊的140例患者进行回顾性队列研究。收集有足够冠状位T1加权脑MRI用于评估的患者的TMT和FI。探讨衰弱（FI≥0.25）和非衰弱患者之间TMT的比较。
140例患者，中位年龄75.3岁（四分位间距[IQR]67.1 - 83.2岁），55%为女性。中位TMT为5.5毫米（IQR 4.4 - 6.8毫米），34%为衰弱患者。与非衰弱患者相比，衰弱患者年龄更大（p < 0.001）、简易精神状态检查表（MMSE）得分更低（p = 0.003）且TMT厚度减小（p = 0.011）。
在该队列中，冠状位T1加权脑MRI测量的TMT降低与衰弱相关。有必要开展进一步研究，纳入肌肉减少症的其他测量指标（如双能X线吸收法、握力测量），以验证冠状位T1加权脑MRI中TMT的应用。
