Dysmobility syndrome: a case-series study describing a musculoskeletal syndrome in postmenopausal Mexican women.

ABSTRACT

"Dysmobility Syndrome" (DS) is a term that correlates sarcopenia and osteoporosis together with mobility disturbances, obesity, fractures, and falls. The prevalence of DS is of 74% in this study. Further research with bigger sample sizes is needed to describe if prevalence and DS characteristics are similar in other studies. PURPOSE: "Dysmobility Syndrome" (DS) correlates sarcopenia and osteoporosis together with mobility disturbances, obesity, fractures, and falls, all of which are related to adverse outcomes in the health of the elderly; however, there are no studies of DS in Mexican patients. In this study, we aimed to describe the characteristics of DS in Mexican postmenopausal women from a private practice. METHODS: A case-series study was conducted; women of 60 years and older were invited to participate from August to December of 2019, a total of 50 patients were included. Medical history, physical tests, bone densitometry, and body composition analysis were performed; patients who met 3 or more of the following criteria were diagnosed with DS osteoporosis T-score ≤ -2.5, falls in a previous year, lean appendicular mass ≤ 5.45 kg/m2, walking speed < 1.0 m/s, grip strength < 20 kg, and body fat percentage > 40%. RESULTS: Out of the total 50 patients, 37 were diagnosed with DS, with a prevalence of 74% in our study. Sixteen patients had a history of a non-vertebral fragility fracture, of which 14 had a diagnosis of DS (87%). CONCLUSIONS: DS has a high frequency in our study group, and was found to be closely related to the presence of non-vertebral fragility fractures. More research is needed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of DS with a stronger statistical significance within our population, and among others across the country, to get an extensive understanding of its presentation in Mexican women. KEY POINTS • The frequency of DS in this study is higher than the one that is described in global literature. • DS diagnosis is closely related to the antecedent of non-vertebral fragility fracture.