Introduction:

Sarcopenia is the muscle disease linked to the aging process and associated with a decrease in the quality of life and functionality in the older people.

Objective:

To determine the association between sarcopenia and the quality of life of self-reliant and mildly dependent elderly people from two cities in southern Chile.

Methodology:

The study had a non-experimental design, analytic and of transversal temporality. The sample consisted of 80 elderly people (30 men), a non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used. To determine the quality of life, the SF-36 quality of life survey was applied and to determine sarcopenia, the flowchart of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People was applied, which assesses muscle strength (dynamometry), appendicular muscle mass and physical performance (walking speed).

Results:

The prevalence of sarcopenia in the elderly reached 23.8 %. There was no evidence of association between sarcopenia and quality of life. When analyzing the parameters to evaluate sarcopenia separately, an association was evidenced between gait speed and quality of life dimensions (physical function; p = 0.000, physical role; p = 0.005 and social function; p = 0.010).

Conclusion:

A lower walking speed was related to a low quality of life. Future sarcopenia evaluation and control programs should consider quality of life as a variable associated with the physical performance of older people.

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