Musculoskeletal aging: metabolic and functional repercussions and mortality risk in people aged 50 and older

Abstract

There is a gap in the understanding of the relationship between abdominal obesity, low vitamin D serum levels and dynapenia later in life. However, there is strong evidence suggesting that these three conditions may be interconnected and part of the same mechanism that affects negatively musculoskeletal health and, consequently, metabolic and functional capacity later in life. Therefore, the objectives of the present proposal are: i) to analyze the incidence of dynapenia in individuals with and without vitamin D deficiency; ii) to analyze the incidence of low vitamin D serum levels in subjects with and without abdominal obesity; iii) to analyze the association between dynapenic abdominal obesity and the trajectory of metabolic disorders of carbohydrates, lipids, systemic arterial pressure, mobility disability and lower limbs functional limitation; iv) to analyze the association between dynapenic abdominal obesity and the incidence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular mortality. Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a long-term multi-cohort study that began in 2002 and has more than 15 years of follow-up, will be used. This project benefits from an existing research partnership between the candidate and the University College London (UCL). In order to answer each of the questions in this proposal, we will use incidence density analyzes, Poisson and logistic regression models, Kaplan-Meyer curves, Cox regression models and Generalized Linear Mixed Models. Our hypotheses are: i) the incidence of dynapenia is higher in individuals with low serum vitamin D levels; (ii) the incidence of low serum vitamin D levels is higher in obese individuals; and (iii) trajectories of lower limb function, mobility disability and changes in carbohydrate, lipid and blood pressure metabolism as well as the incidence of metabolic syndrome and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases are higher in obese individuals. (AU)