Challenges and physiological implications of sarcopenia in children and youth in health and disease.

Purpose of review: Highlight the controversies and challenges associated with a sarcopenia diagnosis in infants and children and the potential physiological mechanisms contributing to this disorder.

Recent findings: Sarcopenia has been recently identified in infants and children with chronic diseases such as liver, cardiac, gastrointestinal, cancer and organ transplant recipients. However, there is no consensus regarding the definition of pediatric sarcopenia. Different sarcopenic phenotypes (sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity) have been identified in healthy children and children with chronic disease. Both conditions have been associated with adverse clinical outcomes (e.g. delayed growth, increased hospitalization) in children and youth with chronic disease. The etiology of pediatric sarcopenia is likely multifactorial associated with malnutrition, physical inactivity and altered metabolic environments influencing skeletal muscle mass accumulation and function. Gaps in the literature include the lack of standard tools that should be used for the evaluation of skeletal muscular fitness and body composition in sarcopenia, particularly in infants and young children (<4years).

Summary: Longitudinal evaluation of sarcopenia expression and the underlying physiological and lifestyle factors contributing to pediatric sarcopenia are important to understand to ensure effective rehabilitation strategies can be developed and to avoid the adverse clinical consequences in children.