Powerpenia: moving towards the detection of meaningful human ‘skeletal muscle’ power loss

Abstract

By 2050, the global human population is expected to have more than 10 billion people with~17% adults over 65 years old.1 This ageing population is at higher risk of age-associated declines in motor function and an increased prevalence of multiple health disorders.2 3 Research and public policies aimed at detecting and preventing the accelerated decline of motor functional status throughout the life cycle are essential to address this. This editorial introduces the concept of ‘powerpenia’ and presents insights for its potential clinical application in the future. The term ‘powerpenia’ has been introduced to describe a decline in ‘skeletal muscle’ power associated with ageing, disease and/or physical inactivity, and is proposed as a new biomarker of healthy ageing.4 Unlike the original concepts of sarcopenia and dynapenia, powerpenia centres on the power output observed during motor tasks derived from ‘skeletal muscle’ contractions.4 Compared with maximal strength and muscle mass, power is known to decline with age more rapidly, and to have higher association with an increased risk of falling, functional competence and quality of life in older adults.4 The introduction of the powerpenia concept is further supported by the recent exclusion of power testing (but not maximal strength testing) in the global conceptual definition of sarcopenia proposed by the Global Leadership Initiative in Sarcopenia .5 Moreover, multiple factors can influence the ageing rate (eg, sleep), which means that two human individuals of the same chronological age may be ageing at different rates. Our perspective is that human motor power is a better marker of biological age compared with muscle mass and strength; …