Project overview
Loss of muscle strength and function is a common manifestation of ageing (known as sarcopenia), which leads to falls and fragility fractures (broken bones from low impact injuries), disability, frailty, and sometimes death. Despite this, little is known about how muscle ages in people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), nor the risk factors for muscle loss or the impact on quality of life. We will study three different populations in The Gambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. MUFASSA is an international cross-sectional study set across three countries in SSA, which broadly aims to assess muscle strength & function to understand healthy ageing. It is a 4 year project, which started in January 2022. More specifically MUFASSA aims to:i. Calculate how commonly muscle strength is impaired, physical functional is limited and muscle loss is experienced. ii. Understand to what extent losses in muscle strength and ability reduce the ability to perform activities of daily life, increase the risk of frailty and disability and how these impact quality of life. iii. Identify clinical, nutritional and metabolic risk factors for losses muscle function, to inform approaches to reduce future disability, and promote healthy ageing in SSA.
Staff
Lead researchers
Other researchers
Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups
Research outputs
Mícheál Ó Breasail, Celia L. Gregson, Shane A. Norris, Tafadzwa Madanhire, Nicole Jaff, Nigel J. Crowther, Lisa K. Micklesfield & Kate A. Ward,
2022, Bone, 164
Type: article
Siphiwe N. Dlamini, Shane Norris, Amy E. Mendham, Asanda Mtintsilana, Kate Ward, Tommy Olsson, Julia H. Goedecke & Lisa K. Micklesfield,
2022, Scientific Reports, 12(1)
Type: article
Kate Ward,
2022, The Lancet Global Health, 10(5), E598-E599
Type: letterEditorial
Shane Norris, Edward A Frongillo, Maureen M Black, Yanhui Dong, Caroline Fall, Michelle Lampl, Angela D Liese, Mariam Naguib, Ann Prentice, Tamsen J. Rochat, Charles B Stephensen, Chiwoneso B Tinago, Kate Ward, Stephanie V. Wrottesley & George Patton,
2022, The Lancet, 399(10320), 172-184
Type: article
Owen Cronin, Susan Lanham-New, Bernard M. Corfe, Celia L. Gregson, Andrea L. Darling, Kourosh R Ahmadi, Philippa S. Gibson, Jonathan H. Tobias, Kate Ward, Maria H. Traka, Megan Rossi, Claire Williams, Nicholas Harvey, Cyrus Cooper, Kevin Whelan, André G. Uitterlinden, Paul W. O'Toole, Claes Ohlsson, Juliet E. Compston & Stuart H. Ralston,
2021, Calcified Tissue International
Type: article