Lower-back muscle quality declined faster than size in older adults
Over four years, MRI signal rose 39.1%, indicating poorer muscle quality, while total muscle volume fell 3.6% in community-dwelling older adults.
Our read
Biomarkers- Studied:
- Cohort study of 66 community-dwelling older adults, 4 years
- What changed:
- Lower-back MRI signal rose 39.1%, indicating poorer muscle quality, while total muscle volume fell 3.6%
- The catch:
- Only 66 of 111 enrolled participants completed both MRI scans and entered the analysis
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Sixty-six community-dwelling adults aged 65 or older underwent lower-back magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and physical performance tests four years apart in a prospective cohort study. They completed both scans out of 111 people initially enrolled in the SarcoSpine cohort.
The researchers measured the size and volume of muscles alongside the lower spine. They assessed muscle quality using MRI signal intensity, the brightness of muscle on the scans. This signal rose 39.1%, indicating poorer muscle quality, while muscle cross-sectional area fell 4.1% and total volume fell 3.6%. Handgrip strength declined 7.2%, and walking speed fell 8.1%. Muscle quality changes more closely paralleled these functional declines than changes in muscle quantity did. Men and women showed similar patterns.
Why it matters
Age-related declines in strength and walking speed raise the question of how best to track muscle aging. The authors suggest imaging-based muscle quality measures as sensitive markers of biological muscle aging.
Caveats
MRI signal was a proxy for muscle quality, and the analysis included only 66 of the 111 people initially enrolled. Other changes in health could have contributed to both the scan findings and declining physical performance.
- Lumbar paraspinal muscle total volume
- Handgrip strength
- Appendicular skeletal muscle mass index
- Gait speed
- Lumbar paraspinal muscle cross-sectional area
- Humans
The paper
Seoul National University
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, Jul 22, 2026
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