Aging leads to loss of muscle mass causing functional limitation and reduced quality of life. Myopenia is a new universal term for the presence of clinically relevant muscle wasting. However, little is known about the prevalence of myopenia in elderly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and its influence on RA pathogenesis and disease characteristics. We aimed to explore the characteristics of muscle mass and distribution and their clinical significance. Methods: Consecutive RA patients were

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... uited and clinical data including disease activity (DAS28-CRP), physical function (health assessment questionnaire disability index, HAQ-DI) and radiographic indicators (modified Sharp score) were collected. The muscle mass and distribution were assessed by bioelectric impedance analysis. Myopenia was defined as appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) ≤7.0kg/m2 (men) and ≤5.7kg/m2 (women). Results: Among 643 RA patients recruited, there were 165 (25.7%) elderly patients (age≥60 years) with mean age 65.1±4.5 years. Compared with young patients (age<60 years), elderly RA patients had significantly higher DAS28-CRP (median 3.4 vs. 3.2), HAQ-DI (0.38 vs. 0.13) and modified total Sharp score (mTSS, 16 vs. 9), as well as higher proportion of myopenia (54.5% vs. 41.4%, all P<0.01).