Prevalence of sarcopenia in postmenopausal women by diagnostic construct and sampling setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sarcopenia is a progressive skeletal muscle disorder associated with functional decline, falls, and mortality. Menopause coincides with age-related declines in muscle mass and strength, although the contribution of estrogen deficiency remains uncertain. Reliable prevalence estimates are clinically relevant for postmenopausal women and can help quantify the population that may benefit from case finding and preventive strategies initiated in midlife. However, the available evidence is fragmented, and prevalence estimates vary according to the diagnostic definition, measurement method, and recruitment setting. Objetives: To estimate the prevalence of consensus-confirmed sarcopenia in community or population-based samples of postmenopausal women. To estimate confirmed sarcopenia in health-service samples, summarize other sarcopenia-related constructs separately, and describe osteosarcopenia and associated factors without pooling non-comparable measures.