Sophie Gillain

The Effects of Vitamin D on Skeletal Muscle Strength, Muscle Mass, and Muscle Power: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

CONTEXT There is growing evidence that vitamin D plays a role on several tissues including skeletal muscle. OBJECTIVE The aim was to summarize with a meta-analysis, the effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle function. DATA SOURCES A systematic research of randomized controlled trials, performed between 1966 and January 2014 has been conducted on Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematics Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled and completed by a manual review of the literature and congressional abstracts. STUDY SELECTION All forms and doses of vitamin D supplementation, with or without calcium supplementation, compared with placebo or control were included. Out of the 225 potentially relevant articles, 30 randomized controlled trials involving 5615 individuals (mean age: 61.1 years) met the inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION Data were extracted by two independent reviewers. DATA SYNTHESIS Results revealed a small but significant positive effect of vitamin D supplementation on global muscle strength with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of 0.17 (P = .02). No significant effect was found on muscle mass (SMD 0.058; P = .52) or muscle power (SMD 0.057; P = .657). Results on muscle strength were significantly more important with people who presented a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level <30 nmol/L. Supplementation seems also more effective on people aged 65 years or older compared to younger subjects (SMD 0.25; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.48 vs SMD 0.03; 95% CI -0.08 to 0.14). CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D supplementation has a small positive impact on muscle strength, but additional studies are needed to define optimal treatment modalities, including dose, mode of administration, and duration.

Gait analysis in elderly adult patients with mild cognitive impairment and patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease: simple versus dual task: a preliminary report

Background/Aims:  The aim of this study was to assess gait characteristics during simple and dual task in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and compare them with those of healthy elderly subjects and mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients.

Validation of the SarQoL®, a specific health‐related quality of life questionnaire for Sarcopenia

A specific self‐administrated health‐related quality of life questionnaire for sarcopenia, the Sarcopenia and Quality Of Life (SarQoL®), has been recently developed. This questionnaire is composed of 55 items translated into 22 questions and organized into seven domains of quality of life. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the psychometric properties (discriminative power, validity, reliability, floor and ceiling effects) of the SarQoL® questionnaire.

P-331: Baseline characteristics of a two-year prospective study aiming to link clinical components, cognitive and gait performances in healthy old people

Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge this is the first study that presents data on the relationship between smoking and life satisfaction of older people in EU countries living independently. Non-smoking older people report a higher level of life satisfaction compared to smoking older people. The relation between smoking behaviour, diseases, disabilities and life satisfaction is complicated because smoking is related to diseases with a high mortality rate and sometimes a relatively short period with disabilities before death.