A 12-week individualized, home-based physical activity prescription called PACE—combining functional resistance exercises and walking—produced measurable gains in lower-limb muscle function (p=0.033), endurance (p=0.006), and estimated muscle power (p=0.038–0.045) among 37 overweight or obese frail geriatric outpatients (mean age over 60, 20 women). Critically, the prevalence of probable sarcopenia dropped significantly post-intervention (p=0.011), and participants averaged 238 minutes of weekly physical activity, with 65% meeting recommended guidelines—a notably high adherence rate for an unsupervised program.
Sarcopenic obesity—the simultaneous loss of muscle mass alongside excess adiposity—represents one of geriatric medicine's most challenging double burdens, accelerating functional decline faster than either condition alone. The PACE tool's strength lies in its pragmatism: no gym, no supervision, yet adherence exceeded what many structured trials achieve. That said, this is a preprint not yet peer-reviewed, and the findings must be treated cautiously. The single-arm design with no control group makes it impossible to rule out placebo effects, seasonal activity variation, or regression to the mean. A cohort of only 37 participants limits statistical power and generalizability. Longer follow-up is needed to confirm whether sarcopenia reversal is durable. Still, for clinicians seeking scalable geriatric interventions, the PACE framework's individualized, low-barrier design is an incrementally promising step toward embedding exercise prescription into routine outpatient care.
