The study of body composition through DEXA: A prognostic tool to assess motor self-sufficiency recovery in geriatric rehabilitation

In order to identify the district values (youthful peak and senile threshold) of the lean mass (MM) and the compatible with motor autonomy lower limbs (Ai-mm), the body composition of 717 healthy and autonomous subjects, divided for gender, age and BMI has been previously evaluated. For both genders, Ai-mm has presented an overlapping distribution that, starting from a youthful peak, has shown an age-related decreasing until the same limit values, hypothesizable as motor autonomy threshold. Subsequently, 69 pathological subjects with acute motor pathology have been evaluated with DEXA. In the acute phase of the pathology a significant quantitative reduction of the total MM has been highlighted with a decreasing in representativity in Ai-mm and an increasing in Tr-mm. CC Monitoring (comparison between first and second DEXA evaluations) sequently highlights that functional recovery significantly correlates with the recovery of a proteical anabolism condition, while catabolic phase persistence characterizes the ultimate loss of self-sufficiency. Stress catabolism shows a behavior in the elderly patient as an accelerator of physiological senile involution of MM, reducing Ai-mm to values not compatible with the motor autonomy. However, functional recovery coincides with the anabolic phase and the restoration of a MM distribution. These values could form some reference targets for the prevention and/or treatment of forms of hypokinesia and motor disabilities and make the analysis of DC with DEXA useful for a quantitative assessment of the prognostically predictive reserve motor function of functional recovery potential.