Almatar Ahmed, Koçakoğlu Şenay
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Şanlıurfa, Türkiye.
Front Public Health. 2025 Sep 5;13:1660782. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1660782. eCollection 2025.
Sarcopenia is a current health threat that accompanies nutritional problems, cancers, and chronic diseases all around the world. Individuals in the risk group, especially the older adults, can be protected against sarcopenia with early diagnosis and effective interventions. The aim of this study is to conduct the first national survey to determine the awareness, knowledge, and adequacy levels of Turkish family physicians regarding sarcopenia management.
This cross-sectional study was performed on family physicians serving in family health centers across Türkiye. The mobile phone numbers of family physicians were accessed through the Federation of Family Physicians Associations. Data were collected through a 33-item online purpose-designed survey from April 1 to June 2024. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the conformity of the variables to the normal distribution. Chi-square test was applied for comparisons between groups.
A total of 405 family physicians representing all seven regions in Türkiye participated in the study. The mean score of the participants' competence level in sarcopenia management was found to be 3.37 ± 1.98 out of 10 points. Receiving training on palliative care and sarcopenia before and/or after graduation and having people diagnosed with sarcopenia in the immediate environment provided a positive and significant difference in terms of sarcopenia management competence scores ( < 0.001, = 0.012, = 0.001, respectively).
The findings of the study reveal deficiencies in awareness, knowledge, and management of sarcopenia among family physicians. Expanding the subject of sarcopenia in the medical school curriculum, including sarcopenia management in guidelines for primary health care providers and providing equipment support, ensuring that family physicians are more proactive and competent in the management of sarcopenia may be a rational approach within the scope of protecting and improving individual and public health.
肌肉减少症是一种当前对全球健康构成威胁的疾病，它伴随着营养问题、癌症和慢性疾病。处于风险组的个体，尤其是老年人，可通过早期诊断和有效干预来预防肌肉减少症。本研究的目的是开展首次全国性调查，以确定土耳其家庭医生对肌肉减少症管理的认识、知识和充分程度。
本横断面研究针对在土耳其各地家庭健康中心服务的家庭医生进行。通过家庭医生协会联合会获取家庭医生的手机号码。于2024年4月1日至6月通过一项专门设计的33项在线调查问卷收集数据。使用柯尔莫哥洛夫-斯米尔诺夫检验评估变量是否符合正态分布。应用卡方检验进行组间比较。
共有代表土耳其所有七个地区的405名家庭医生参与了本研究。发现参与者在肌肉减少症管理方面的能力水平平均得分为3.37 ± 1.98（满分10分）。毕业前和/或毕业后接受姑息治疗和肌肉减少症方面的培训以及在直接环境中有被诊断为肌肉减少症的人，在肌肉减少症管理能力得分方面存在显著的积极差异（分别为<0.001、=0.012、=0.001）。
研究结果揭示了家庭医生在肌肉减少症的认识、知识和管理方面存在不足。在医学院课程中扩大肌肉减少症的主题，在初级卫生保健提供者指南中纳入肌肉减少症管理内容，并提供设备支持，以确保家庭医生在肌肉减少症管理方面更积极主动且具备能力，这可能是在保护和改善个人及公众健康范围内的一种合理方法。
