Competitive grant will support bone and muscle health research

Dr David Scott

Senior Research Fellow Dr David Scott from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) has been awarded a Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation Project Grant to support his research into sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and function.  It is estimated that 5–13% of elderly people aged 60–70 years are affected by sarcopenia, and this increases to 11–50% for those aged over 80. 

Dr Scott, an NHRMC Career Development Fellow in the Bone and Muscle Health Research Group, will use the $100,000 grant to undertake a randomised controlled trial comparing the effects of weight loss plus a bone-targeted exercise intervention versus weight loss alone in obese older adults with sarcopenia.

“We have demonstrated previously that obese older adults with sarcopenia have increased risk for falls, fractures and type 2 diabetes,” Dr Scott said.

“These individuals can undoubtedly benefit from weight loss interventions, but can experience significant losses of bone and muscle mass as a result.”

“We will determine whether a 12-week bone-targeted exercise intervention involving high-velocity resistance training and impact activities prevents decreases in bone and muscle mass during weight loss,” he said.

“We will also explore whether this type of exercise enhances the benefits of weight loss for improving insulin sensitivity in obese older adults with sarcopenia.”

Dr Scott’s application was the top-ranked grant in the geriatrics discipline.  He has also been invited to attend the Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation dinner in Sydney next month.

Dr Scott acknowledges the ongoing support of Professor Peter Ebeling and the team in the Bone and Muscle Health Research Group.