Spotlight session

Sarcopenia and falls – intertwining geriatric syndromes

Organiser and Chair

Tommy Cederholm, MD, PhD, is a professor of Clinical Nutrition, professor emeritus at Uppsala University, affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant in Geriatrics at Karolinska University hospital. His area of research and expertise is loss of weight and muscle function; i.e. malnutrition and sarcopenia, during ageing and disease. The concept of sarcopenia/muscle failure was introduced >30 years ago and is slowly entering the consciousness of medical, social and political stakeholders as a major factor behind frailty and disability.

Content and structure

This session will promote the understanding of the crucial role of muscle function for the well-being of older adults. Sarcopenia, exemplified by an average loss of 30-50 % of muscle mass combined with an ensuing even more pronounced loss of muscle function during ageing, is an underestimated condition that needs recognition if older adults are to be given the right prerequisites for an active life. Various aspects of sarcopenia, as its diagnostic features, its major negative consequences like falls, new insights of etiologic mechanisms and effects of innovative treatments in the very old are targeted.

Each presentation is followed by discussions on forward-looking perspectives on how to implement preventive and treatment actions especially targeted for the older adult.

Session participants

• Tommy Cederholm, MD, PhD, Professor of Clinical Nutrition, Professor Emeritus at Uppsala
• Anna-Karin Welmer, RPT, PhD, Associate professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
• Ole Martin Steihaug, Department of Internal Medicine, Haraldsplass Deacones Hospital Bergen, Norway
• Jennifer Linge, MSc, PhD, Department of Health Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University Sweden & AMRA Medical AB, Linköping, Sweden
• Anne-Marie Boström, RN, PhD, Associate professor, Karolinska Institutet and Theme Inflammation & Aging, Karolinska University hospital, and R&D unit, Stockholms Sjukhem, Sweden