Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The objective of our study is to evaluate muscle strength and risk of falls in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) patients

Methods: Observational cross-sectional study. Hand grip strength (HGS) (kg/cm²) was measured with a Jamar. manual hydraulic dynamometer (5030j1; Jackson, MI). To classify normality, data from the Spanish population were used, establishing the cut-off point at p10. To assess the level of mobility and the risk of falls, the Time Up and Go(TUG) test was carried out. A score of less than 12 seconds was defined as low risk of falling and greater than 12 seconds as high risk of falling.

Results: The study included 60 patients with DM2 (60% men and 40% postmenopausal women). Mean age 66.3±8.3 years. Body mass index (BMI) 30.8±4.6. The mean values for dynamometry were 33.5±22.5 kg in males and 21.5±9.4 kg in women, being 96.6% below the 10th percentile. The prevalence of low muscle strength was analyzed by age group, quartiles of BMI and waist circumference (WC). We observed a progressive increase of low muscle strength with age. The prevalence of low hand grip strength was higher in the first and fourth quartiles of BMI and the fourth quartile of WC. According to the results obtained in the TUG test, 25% of men and 41.7% of women had a high risk of falls. Patients with high risk of falls showed significantly lower hand grip strength values than those with low risk of falls (13.8±7.4 vs 18.7±8.1; P=0.027).

Conclusions: HGS and TUG are practical tools for assessment muscle weakness in DM2 patients. Decrease in muscle strength should be recognized as a complication of DM2.