Chang Won Won

This cross-sectional study investigated the association between sarcopenia components and depressed mood in community-dwelling adults aged 70–84 years from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Depressed mood was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale short form. Logistic regression was used to examine sex-specific associations between...

Previous studies have suggested beneficial effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on sarcopenia. However, the associations of dietary fish intake with the prevalence of sarcopenia are inconsistent, and those with the incidence of sarcopenia has not been studied. This study investigated the hypothesis that seafood and fish consumption is inverse...

Aging, a universal and inevitable process, is characterized by a progressive accumulation of physiological alterations and functional decline over time, leading to increased vulnerability to diseases and ultimately mortality as age advances. Lifestyle factors, notably physical activity (PA) and exercise, significantly modulate aging phenotypes. Phy...

Intrinsic capacity (IC) progressively decreases with age, accelerating the risk of disability. However, it is less known whether IC transition is associated with disability. We aimed to investigate the association between IC transition and incident disability among community-dwelling older adults. A retrospective analysis was conducted over a 6-yea...

The longitudinal nature of frailty reveals its dynamic process through transitions of frailty states over time. However, the transitions between frailty states, including their progression and reversibility, remain unclear in Korea. We investigated these longitudinal transitions in frailty states among Korean community-dwelling older adults. We con...

The Global Leadership Initiative on Sarcopenia (GLIS) has sought to establish a consensus on sarcopenia diagnosis, which involves reduced muscle mass and strength. We investigated the association between sarcopenia phenotypes (low muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance) and all-cause mortality. We conducted a prospective 6-year foll...

Creatinine and cystatin-C–based indices have been reported to be associated with sarcopenia; however, the long-term relationship between these indices and sarcopenia remains unclear. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between baseline serum creatinine and cystatin-C–based indices and incidence of sarcopenia during a 6-year follow-up...

While several studies have explored the association between obesity and cognitive function in older adults, definitive evidence linking waist-based anthropometric indices to impaired cognitive function remains lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the association between the waist-based anthropometric indices and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) i...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), short, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at translation, are recently emerging as potential biomarkers for sarcopenia. The miRNAs have been extensively studied in etiology of sarcopenia; however, the role of miRNAs on sarcopenia components has not yet been explored. We aimed to examine the differentially expressed mi...

The prevalence of mobility disability among older adults has a detrimental impact on their ability to live independently. It has been reported that losing functional teeth (FT) is linked to mobility disability. Nevertheless, there is insufficient longitudinal research investigating an association between the number of FT and incident mobility disab...

Objective Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and sarcopenia together pose significant health risks, increasing frailty, falls, and fractures in older adults. This study compared muscle mass measurements obtained using two different dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) machines and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and evaluated the accuracy of these...

Background Functional teeth are important for maintaining appropriate masticatory function and nutritional intake, affecting physical function in older adults. This study aimed to evaluate the association between number of functional teeth and physical function in community-dwelling older Korean adults. Methods This cross-sectional study was condu...

Objectives This study evaluated the impact of masticatory difficulty on the development and progression of malnutrition, frailty, sarcopenia, and disability in community‐dwelling adults, using data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Methods Participants were categorised by presence of masticatory difficulty. The Fried frailty phenotyp...

Aims Frailty in older adults is influenced by various factors, such as poor nutritional status. Mid‐upper arm circumference (MUAC) is a validated, simple, and non‐invasive tool for assessing nutritional status. Despite its potential, no study has explored the association between MUAC and physical frailty in older adults. This study aims to investig...

Background Sarcopenia is a geriatric disease characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength. Although combined exercise and nutrition intervention are known to be effective for sarcopenia, clinical trials involving outpatients with sarcopenia in primary care are scarce. We describe a protocol for a trial to examine the effects of a 12-week combi...

Sarcopenia is recognized as a complex and multifactorial disorder that includes nutritional deficiency, inactivity, proinflammatory status, hormonal changes, neurological degeneration, and metabolic disturbances. Its’ pathogenesis is not fully understood. Therefore, identifying specific biomarkers of sarcopenia will help us understand its pathophys...

Our study aims to examine perceptions of sarcopenia among doctors and patients for improved management strategies in the future. We analyzed nine matched items from separate surveys involving 80 community-based primary care doctors, recruited online (55%) and offline (45%), and 80 community-dwelling older patients who visited 6 of the 80 primary ca...

Sarcopenia is a comprehensive degenerative disease with the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass with age, accompanied by the loss of muscle strength and muscle dysfunction. Individuals with unmanaged sarcopenia may experience adverse outcomes. Periodically monitoring muscle function to detect muscle degeneration caused by sarcopenia and treati...

Background: This study aimed to develop an instrument for assessing physical functioning among adults aged 50 years or older living in the community. Methods: Based on a review of various national health surveys and cohort studies, a 144-item bank was constructed for assessing physical functioning. Focus group interviews were conducted among adu...

Background Understanding the role of smartphones to promote the health status of older adults is important in the digital society. Little is known about the effects of having smartphones on physical frailty despite its positive effect on the well-being of older adults. This study aimed to explore the association between smartphone ownership and fra...

Background: Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. This study aimed to assess whether better coping with stress, as assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used 2018/2019 data...

Obesity affects physical functions in numerous ways. We aimed to evaluate the association between obesity and falls, physical performance, and balance confidence in community-dwelling older adults. Using first-year baseline data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study, 979 older adults were included. General obesity was defined based on the...

Previous studies have reported that low levels of physical activity result in sarcopenic obesity (SO). However, the effects of specific intensities of physical activity on SO and the optimal amount of physical activity for lowering the prevalence of SO have not been well studied. This study aimed to identify the effects of physical activity levels...

Sarcopenia is characterized by an age-related progressive reduction in muscle mass and function. Few observational studies have characterized the dynamic nature of sarcopenia, which is potentially reversible. However, little is known about the determinants of sarcopenia reversal among community-dwelling older adults. We aimed to explore transitions...

It is necessary to consider multiple biomarkers simultaneously to detect sarcopenia due to its multifactorial etiology. This study is to compare the AUC of multiple biomarker risk score (MBS) that combines multiple biomarkers with that of individual biomarkers and to examine the association of MBS with incidence of sarcopenia in older adults. A tot...

Although a cross-sectional link between serum creatinine- and cystatin-C-based indices and sarcopenia has been established, the longitudinal association remains unclear. This study explored the longitudinal association between serum creatinine- and cystatin-C-based indices and the incidence of sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults. Using a...

Background Sarcopenia is commonly observed in patients with cardiovascular diseases. However, studies on the association between sarcopenia and atrial fibrillation and their causal relationships are limited. We performed cross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses to investigate the association between sarcopenia and atrial fibrillation among communi...

Aim As life expectancy increases worldwide, the prevalence and the disease burden of diabetes in older adults are also increasing. This study aimed to examine sex differences in the reciprocal relationship between glycemic control and depressive symptoms among older adults with diabetes by using longitudinal data at two timepoints. Methods Wave 1...

Background Early detection and management of sarcopenia in community-based primary care clinics that provide care for community-dwelling older patients are important to prevent related complications. Methods We analyzed nine matched items from separate surveys with 80 doctors working at community-based primary care clinics and 80 community-dwellin...

Background Sarcopenia is a geriatric disease characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength. Although combined exercise and nutrition intervention is known to be effective for sarcopenia, clinical trials involving patients with sarcopenia in primary care are scarce. We describe a protocol for a trial to examine the effects of a 12-week combined...

Chronic diseases often lead to metabolic disorders, causing anabolic resistance and increased energy consumption, which result in cachexia. Cachexia, in turn, can lead to major clinical consequences such as impaired quality of life, shortened life expectancy, and increased healthcare expenditure. Existing international diagnostic criteria for cache...

Cross-sectional epidemiological studies suggested the intake of fish and seafood was negatively associated with the prevalence of frailty. This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that the prevalence of frailty is negatively associated with the consumption of total seafood and fish at baseline and 4-year follow-up. Using a multicenter longitu...

Background: This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and mortality among older adults in South Korea. Methods: Using Korean National Health Insurance data from January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022, we analyzed the impact of various factors, including age, comorbidity burden, and in...

Background Understanding the role of smartphones to promote the health status of older adults is important in the digital society. Little is known about the effects of having smartphones on physical frailty despite its positive effect on the well-being of older adults. This study aimed to explore the association between smartphone ownership and fra...

Objective: Chronic stress is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The objective of this study is to assess whether better stress coping is associated with slower rate of cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Design: Longitudinal cohort study Setting: Community-dwelling older adults were r...

Introduction: Among chronic diseases affecting older adults, metabolic syndrome (MetS) is known to be closely related to sarcopenia. Insulin resistance may play a key role in the increased frequency of sarcopenia associated with metabolic disorders. To date, an exercise-nutrition combined intervention has been the treatment of choice for sarcopeni...

Background: It is required to consider multiple biomarkers simultaneously to predict sarcopenia and to understand its complex pathological mechanisms. This study aimed to develop multiple biomarker panels for predicting sarcopenia in older adults and to further examine its association with the incidence of sarcopenia. Methods: A total of 1,021 o...

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between combinations of sarcopenia criteria by the Asian Working Group of Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 guideline and incident adverse health outcomes. Design: Longitudinal analyses of a cohort study. Setting and participants: We conducted prospective 2-year follow-up analyses (N = 1959) amo...

Background Korea is expected to become a super-aged society in 2026, and improving nutritional status, which is directly related to health problems, is therefore important for increasing healthy life expectancy. Frailty is the most complex phenotype of aging, and leads to adverse health outcomes, disability, poor quality of life, hospitalization, a...

Background: South Korea has no official geriatric specialties or subspecialties. Moreover, studies on the unmet needs related to geriatric health problems in older Korean adults are scarce. Therefore, we investigated the unmet needs regarding geriatric health problems among older Korean adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 411 Ko...

Sarcopenia is becoming prevalent in an increasing number of older adults undergoing total knee replacement (TKR) surgery. Metal implants may overestimate lean mass (LM) measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). This study aimed to examine the effects of TKR on LM measurements according to automatic metal detection (AMD) processing. The...

The longitudinal effect of B12 insufficiency on sarcopenia has not yet been investigated in older adults. We aimed to study the impact of B12 levels on alterations in muscle mass, function and strength over two years. Non-sarcopenic older adults (n = 926) aged 70–84 were included. Using the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study, this two-year longi...

This study was conducted to identify fall injury patterns, the transition from the baseline to follow-up, and the factors associated with the identified fall injury patterns using data obtained from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. The participants were 566 community-dwelling older adults with fall experience. Three fall injury patterns w...

In the process of aging, the loss of lean mass and increase in fat mass are associated with cognitive decline. This study investigated sex differences in the association between body composition and changes in cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults in Korea. A total of 1,420 participants (aged 70–84 years, 54.2% men) of the Korean Fr...

The pathophysiology of sarcopenia is complex and multifactorial; however, it has not been fully elucidated. This preliminary study explored novel biomarkers of severe sarcopenia through a metabolomic analysis of plasma metabolites in community-dwelling older men. Twenty older men (mean age: 81.9±2.8 years) were randomly selected from the Korean Fra...

Muscle fatty infiltration is associated with impaired physical performance. However, the association between ectopic fat, such as lower extremity fat distribution, and sex-specific differences among older adults remains to be determined. This study aimed to examine sex-specific differences in calf muscle fat infiltration and their association with...

Frailty is not only a clinical symptom accompanying adverse health outcomes but also a syndrome that involves a dynamic transition between varying phases. This study aimed to develop machine learning (ML) models for predicting incident frailty over a 2-year follow-up period among Korean community-dwelling adults aged 70 years and older. We conducte...

Sarcopenia and osteoarthritis often occur together. Many sarcopenic patients with osteoarthritis are managed by total knee replacement (TKR). The prevalence of TKR is increasing in older adults; however, metal implants can lead to the overestimation of lean mass (LM) in dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). However, studies considering metal impl...

This study investigated the 2-year impact of physical frailty on disability (activities of daily living [ADL], instrumental ADL [IADL], and mobility) and mortality among community-dwelling older adults in Korea. We used data from 2,905 older adults aged 70–84 years who participated in the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS) at baseline (2...

Abstract Background Age-related obesity and body composition changes include loss of muscle mass and increased body fat. This study aimed to investigate sex differences in the impact of sarcopenia, defined by the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS), on obesity in Korean older adults. Methods In this 2-year longitudinal study, 3014 participant...

Background Among risk factors of developing frailty, dietary factor played an important role as a potentially modifiable risk factor. Eating alone is associated with malnutrition, depression, and social isolation, which are risk factors of frailty. We evaluated the longitudinal association between a change to eating alone and deterioration in frail...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an exercise-induced neurotrophin, is an important factor in memory consolidation and cognitive function. This study evaluates the association between plasma BDNF levels and frailty in community-dwelling older adults. Plasma BDNF levels were analyzed in a total of 302 individuals aged 70–84 years from the Ko...

Background The 5-times chair stand test (5CST) is a proxy tool for measuring physical performance and muscle strength in diagnosing sarcopenia. The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 guidelines recommends the 5CST for evaluating gait speed, whereas the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People guidelines recommend the chair stand te...

Background The pathophysiology of sarcopenia is complex and multifactorial; however, it has not yet been fully elucidated. Identifying metabolomic profiles may help clarify the mechanisms underlying sarcopenia. Objective This pilot study explored potential noninvasive biomarkers of severe sarcopenia through metabolomic analysis in community-dwelli...

Background This study investigated the impact of physical frailty on the development of disabilities in mobility, activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) according to sex among community-dwelling Korean older adults. Methods We used data of 2,905 older adults aged 70-84 years from the Korean Frailty and...

Background: Constipation is one of the most common health problems among the elderly, and cognitive impairment is also a major health problem among the elderly. Identifying risk factors for cognitive impairment is important to prevent many cognitive disorders. Though studies on cognitive decline in patients with Parkinson’s disease are available, n...

Sarcopenic obesity is defined as the presence of high fat mass and low muscle mass combined with low physical function, and it is closely related with the onset of cardiovasular diseases (CVD). The existing anthropometric indices, which are being utilised in clinical practice as predictors of CVD, may also be used to screen sarcopenic obesity, but...

Background: Sarcopenia, a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder involving accelerated loss of muscle mass and muscle function, is a common condition in older individuals. This study aims to determine whether sleep latency and duration are independently associated with incident sarcopenia and to explore sex differences in these associ...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an exercise-induced neurotrophin, is an important factor in memory consolidation and cognitive function. This study evaluates the association between plasma BDNF levels and frailty in community-dwelling older adults. Plasma BDNF levels were analyzed in a total of 302 individuals aged 70–84 years from the Ko...

Abstract Background Obesity is a chronic disease that causes various medical health problems, increases morbidity, and reduces the quality of life. Obesity (especially central obesity) in older adults is expected to act with the development of sarcopenia. However, the relationship between obesity, central obesity, and sarcopenia remains controversi...

Objective Aging causes changes in body composition, in which differences in the distribution and amount of fat and muscle tissue affect various diseases according to sex. We conducted a systemic review of the literature and examined the relationship between body composition differences and related health conditions or diseases among older men and w...

Background: This study investigated the impact of physical frailty on the development of disabilities in mobility, activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) according to sex among community-dwelling Korean older adults. Methods: We used data of 2,905 older adults aged 70-84 years from the Korean Frailty an...

Identification of possible sarcopenia, which is a simple assessment of sarcopenia, has been proposed for the earlier detection of sarcopenia in primary care settings; however, there are no studies comparing the differences in characteristics of older adults with possible sarcopenia or sarcopenia. This study aimed to compare the characteristics of “...

Background: Sarcopenia is an age-related chronic condition that can lead to mobility disabilities. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for incident sarcopenia in older Korean adults. Methods: The Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS) is a multicentre prospective study with a baseline examination in 2016-2017. A prospective foll...

This study aims to examine sex-specific differences in body composition and lower extremity fat distribution and their association with physical performance among healthy older adults. The pilot study comprises 40 subjects (20 men and 20 women) matched by age and body mass index. The participants undergo dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, magnetic r...

Stroke-related disabilities cause poor physical performance, especially among older adults, and can lead to sarcopenia. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been used to improve physical performance in individuals with neurological disorders and increase muscle mass and strength to counteract muscle atrophy. This review covers the principles...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.695614.].

Objective : Evidence regarding the primary preventive effects of statin in the elderly is inadequate. This study aimed to determine the duration and intensity of statins beneficial in adults aged ≥75 years for primary prevention. Methods : This is a retrospective longitudinal study, using the National Health Insurance Corporation-Senior Cohort dat...

Age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) leads to deterioration of the quality of life in the elderly. Because emerging evidence suggests age-related illness is associated with gene regulation, it is necessary to understand the factors related to ARCD from an epigenetic perspective to aim for successful cognitive aging (SCA). This study aimed to identi...

Background Falls are one of the most serious health problems among older adults. Sarcopenia is characterized by a decrease in muscle mass, strength, and physical function. Due to potentially age-related conditions, both falls and sarcopenia have common risk factors. However, the association between sarcopenia and falls is controversial. Moreover, t...

Objectives To identify the optimal cutoff points for poor physical function (measured by a 5-times sit-to-stand [5-STS] test) associated with slowness in community-dwelling older adults and to validate the 5-STS cut points by determining whether they predicted future slowness and clinically relevant health outcomes over a 2-year-follow-up period....

Vitamin B12 (B12) is involved as a cofactor in the synthesis of myelin. A lack of B12 impairs peripheral nerve production, which can contribute to sarcopenia. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between B12 insufficiency and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older Korean adults. A total of 2325 (1112 men; 1213 wom...

Aim Physical frailty and sarcopenia are geriatric syndromes associated with adverse health outcomes. However, the common and different conditions associated with physical frailty and sarcopenia remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics of older adults with physical frailty and sarcopenia. Methods This cross-sectional...

Aging has become a global problem, and the interest in healthy aging is growing. Healthy aging involves a focus on the maintenance of the function and well-being of elderly adults, rather than a specific disease. Thus, the management of frailty, which is an accumulated decline in function, is important for healthy aging. The adaptation method was u...

Background and aimsDespite the association between sarcopenia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), no study has evaluated the predictive role of NAFLD in sarcopenia. We investigated impact of NAFLD on the risk of low muscle mass (LMM) and low muscle strength (LMS) in a nationwide multicenter study.MethodsA total of 1595 community-dwelling...

Background General health conditions in older adults, including their mental health, differ greatly based on their physical health conditions rather than age. Thus, we evaluated how lifestyle factors, which included eating and living, affected depressive symptoms in older adults based on their physical frailty status. Methods We included older adu...

Background despite of the beneficial effects of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 in several metabolic diseases, the association of plasma FGF21 with muscle mass and muscle strength is still unclear. Methods a total of 386 community-dwelling older adults aged 70–84 years were analysed. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass was measured using dual-ener...

Objective The association of free testosterone (FT) with sarcopenia and its components is well known in men but incompletely understood in women. We examined the association of baseline FT with the prevalence and incidence of sarcopenia and its components in community-dwelling older adults. Design Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis from the...

Background: Resilience refers to the ability to recover function after encounter with stressors. While psychological resilience refers to the ability to cope with psychological stress, physical resilience refers to functional restoration after biomedical challenges. However, there is no gold standard to assess physical resilience. Accordingly, we...

Background: Falls are one of the most serious health problems among older adults. Sarcopenia is characterized by a decrease in muscle mass, strength, and physical function. Due to potentially age-related conditions, both falls and sarcopenia have common risk factors. However, the association between sarcopenia and falls is controversial. Methods: I...

Background Physical performance decline associated with aging is clinically important in the development of disability in the older population. More recently, procollagen type III N-terminal peptide (P3NP) and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP25) have been suggested as potential biomarkers for physical performance decline. Objective...

Background Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is associated with disease progression, mitochondrial dysfunction, and mortality. Elevated GDF-15 level was recently reported to be associated with poorer physical performance in healthy adults. However, the association between serum GDF-15 level and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older adults...

Anorexia is a relevant geriatric syndrome because it accounts for most malnutrition in older adults. Constipation has been suggested as a risk factor for anorexia. This study aimed to examine the association between anorexia and functional constipation in community-dwelling older adults. Data on 899 subjects aged 72–86 years were obtained from a fo...

Cognitive impairment in the elderly causes a significant decline in the quality of life and a substantial economic burden on society. Yet, diagnosing cognitive impairment is apt to be missed or delayed due to its assessment being laborious. This study aimed to propose a new approach of classifying the risk of cognitive impairment in the elderly usi...

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently endorsed the proposal for a Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020–2030). The WHO defines “healthy aging” as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.” Among the strategies for the Decade of Healthy Ageing, the WHO has suggested enhancing intrinsic cap...

Faced with the rapidly aging world population, frailty has emerged as a major health burden among the elderly. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using temporal gait characteristics and a long short-term memory network for assessing frailty. Seventy-four community-dwelling elderly individuals participated in this study. The particip...

The prevalence of obesity as well as cognitive impairment increases with age. Previous studies showed that obesity is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Body composition changes occur as part of the aging process; therefore, the assessment of obesity in elderly populations should include body composition as well...

There are few studies on dietary patterns and frailty in Asians, and the results are controversial. Therefore, this study examined the association between dietary patterns and frailty in older Korean adults using the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study (KFACS). The sample consisted of 511 subjects, aged 70–84 years, community-dwelling older peopl...