▲ (from the left) Professor Tae-Bum Kim and Professor Il-Young Jang

A research team led by Professor Tae-Bum Kim of the Division of Allergy and Professor Il-Young Jang of the Division of Geriatrics analyzed the association between sarcopenia and asthma using the data of 4,000 elderly individuals, 65 years or older, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2011). As a result, it was found that elderly individuals who suffer from both asthma and sarcopenia tend to have serious lung capacity five times more than those who only have asthma.

The research team divided the asthma group according to muscle mass and compared their lung function indexes. While 9.07% of the group with asthma without sarcopenia had forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) less than 60%, the rate increased 5 times to 42.88% for the group with both asthma and sarcopenia. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second is the volume of air exhaled in the first second during forced exhalation after maximal inspiration. If FEV1 is below 60% of the normal predictive value, the lung capacity is considered to be serious. There was also almost twice the rate of patients in the group with both asthma and sarcopenia who suffered from narrowed bronchial tubes and breathing difficulty. A relatively higher rate was observed to show serious reduction in lung capacity or narrowed bronchial tubes among elderly patients with asthma who are less engaged in physical activity.

Professor Tae-Bum Kim said, “This research is meaningful in that the correlation between sarcopenia and asthma was analyzed based on a large elderly population actually living in the regional community.”

The research findings were published in the latest issue of ‘Journal of Asthma,’ an international scientific journal in the field of asthma.