• Ayşe Merve Ata, Murat Kara, Timur Ekiz, Özgür Kara, Mehmet Ali Culha, Vincenzo Ricci, Esra Gizem Koyuncu, Fırat Özcan, Bayram Kaymak, and Levent Özçakar.
• Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Bursa Doctor Ayten Bozkaya Spastic Children Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, Bursa, Turkey.
• Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 Mar 1; 75 (3): e13800.

BackgroundHypertension and sarcopenia are commonly seen in older adults. The renin-angiotensin system and the therapeutic use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been on the agenda of sarcopenia in different perspectives. Our aim was to explore the frequency of sarcopenia in patients with hypertension and to investigate the association between the use of ACE inhibitors and sarcopenia.MethodsA total of 272 community-dwelling adults were recruited. Anterior thigh muscle thickness was measured by ultrasound. Handgrip strength, gait speed, and chair stand test were evaluated. Low muscle mass was diagnosed in the presence of low sonographic thigh adjustment ratio (STAR) values and sarcopenia was diagnosed if low STAR values were coupled with low functional tests.Results136 subjects (50.0%) had no comorbid disease; 102 (37.5%) had one, 21 (7.7%) had two, nine (3.3%) had three and four (1.5%) had four comorbid diseases. Both low muscle mass (41.9% vs 13.2%) and sarcopenia (32.2% vs 7.8%) were more commonly seen in hypertensive when compared with normotensive older adults. Subgroup analysis of older adults with hypertension revealed that sarcopenia was less prevalent (P = .003) in patients using ACE inhibitors (8.7%) than those using angiotensin II receptor blockers (48.7%) and other antihypertensive drugs (46.4%). After binary logistic regression analyses; only the presence of hypertension seemed to independently predict the development of sarcopenia in older adults [OR = 6.5 (95% CI: 2.4-17.8, P < .001)].ConclusionsSarcopenia is highly prevalent in hypertensive older adults. Amongst many antihypertensive medications, ACE inhibitors seem to have favourable effects on both disorders.© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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