Association of temporalis muscle thickness and frailty in an Australian memory clinic cohort

Background

Sarcopenia and frailty are associated with cognitive impairment, and both are associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Current assessments of sarcopenia are not routinely performed in memory clinics. Temporalis muscle thickness (TMT), which can be measured on routine memory clinic brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has been proposed as a surrogate biomarker of sarcopenia. However, the association of TMT and frailty has not been previously elucidated.

Aims

To explore the relationship between TMT, measured on coronal T1-weighted brain MRI and frailty, as assessed using a Frailty Index (FI), in a memory clinic cohort.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study of 140 patients who attended a memory clinic in a tertiary referral hospital in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. TMT and FI of patients with an adequate coronal T1-weighted brain MRI for assessment were collected. Comparisons of TMT between frail (FI ≥ 0.25) and non-frail patients were explored.

Results

140 patients, median age 75.3 years old (interquartile range [IQR] 67.1–83.2 years old), 55% female. The median TMT was 5.5 mm (IQR 4.4–6.8 mm) and 34% were frail. People who were frail were more likely to be older (p < 0.001), have a lower MMSE (p = 0.003), and reduced TMT thickness (p = 0.011) compared to people who were not frail.

Discussion and conclusion

Reduced TMT, measured in coronal T1-weighted brain MRI is associated with frailty in this cohort. Future studies incorporating additional measures of sarcopenia (e.g. DXA, dynamometry) to validate the use of TMT in coronal T1-weighted brain MRI are warranted.