Investigating sarcopenia awareness using Google Trends

Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder 1 . Prevalence rates are variable according to the definition used with values up to 40,4% in older adults 2 . As sarcopenia increases the risk of physical disability, it is associated with a higher rate of falls and fractures, a higher incidence of hospitalizations and a higher rate of mortality 3 . Consequently, sarcopenia has been reported to impose a significant economic burden on healthcare services 4,5 . Both the costs and negative health outcomes imply that the screening for and treatment of sarcopenia are big health care challenges for the coming decade. Unfortunately, sarcopenia is still a lesser-known entity within medicine, although the ageing of the population induces an increase in the prevalence of sarcopenia in both geriatric medicine and in other medical specialties 6,7 . However, efforts have been done to increase awareness among health care professionals. The introduction of an ICD-10 code for sarcopenia in 2016 illustrates the growing importance and interest in this syndrome, and helps health care workers recognize sarcopenia as a disease 8 . Since 2010, with an update in 2018, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) published a clinical algorithm for sarcopenia case finding to encourage healthcare professionals to take actions in view of promoting early detection and treatment 1 . Taking into account the importance of preventing rather than trying to cure sarcopenia, it is also important to increase the awareness among lay people. As sarcopenia is an insidious condition, many patients only attend their physician when symptoms of muscle weakness are already pronounced. Making an early diagnosis therefore depends largely on the medical education and self-awareness of laymen.