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The assessment and treatment of low relative muscle power in older people has received little attention in the clinical setting when compared to sarcopenia. Our main goal was to assess the associations of low relative power and sarcopenia with other negative outcomes in older people.

The participants were 1189 subjects (54% women; 65–101 years old) from the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging. Probable sarcopenia was defined as having low handgrip strength, while confirmed sarcopenia also included low appendicular skeletal muscle index (assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) (EWGSOP2's definition). Low relative (i.e. normalized to body mass) muscle power was assessed with the 5-repetition sit-to-stand power test (which uses an equation that converts sit-to-stand performance into mechanical power) and diagnosed in those subjects in the lowest sex-specific tertile. Low usual …