The Significance of Body Mass Index in Calculating the Cut-Off Points for Low Muscle Mass in the Elderly: Methodological Issues

Table 3

Basic characteristics of body composition of young healthy males included in the study (reference group) and elderly ones (studied group).

Characteristics	Males 20–30 years; (); mean ± SD	Range	Elderly males; (); mean ± SD	Range	P value
Age, (years)	22.19 ± 2.42	20.00–30.00	73.73 ± 7.53	60.00–89.00	<0.001
Weight, (kg)	78.34 ± 10.85	54.60–122.20	80.10 ± 13.04	51.00–119.60	ns
Height, (m)	1.81 ± 0.06	1.62–1.99	1.69 ± 0.06	1.55–1.85	<0.001
BMI, (kg/m^2)	23.93 ± 2.89	17.90–39.68	27.98 ± 3.82	19.11–37.39	<0.001
Muscle mass^*, (kg)	37.45 ± 4.65	24.90–51.20	31.23 ± 4.19	22.40–43.40	<0.001
Fat free mass^*, (kg)	65.84 ± 7.74	45.40–88.80	56.44 ± 6.98	41.00–77.50	<0.001
Appendicular lean mass, (kg)	28.35 ± 3.48	17.94–37.88	23.30 ± 3.29	16.52–33.17	<0.001
Fat mass^*, (kg)	12.48 ± 6.14	2.90–49.80	23.62 ± 7.71	6.00–42.10	<0.001
Percent body fat^*, (%)	15.54 ± 5.85	3.80–40.70	28.90 ± 6.25	10.90–46.90	<0.001
Total body water^*, (L)	48.26 ± 5.63	33.30–65.10	41.51 ± 5.28	29.10–57.40	<0.001
ALM index, (kg/m^2)	8.64 ± 0.66	6.75–10.79	8.13 ± 0.83	6.37–10.47	<0.001

BMI: body mass index; ALM: appendicular lean mass; SD: standard deviation; ^*these parameters are from the whole body; ns: not significant (P 0.05).