Sex Difference in Cutoff and Prevalence of Sarcopenia among 300,090 Urban Korean Population: Association with Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The study aimed to establish the threshold values and prevalence of sarcopenia and to investigate the association of sarcopenia with metabolic syndrome in an urban Korean population. Materials and Methods: The study included 300,090 adults who underwent anthropometric analyses by bioelectrical impedance analyzer. Sarcopenia was defined as: (1) class I, skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) within −1 to −2 standard deviations (SDs); (2) or class II, Results: Low SMI threshold levels for class I and class II sarcopenia were 39.8 and 36.7% in men, and 35.5 and 32.3% in women. Among all age groups, the prevalence rates of sarcopenia were highest in the age group 80–89 years. Following adjustment for possible confounders including age, sex, height, metabolic and health behavioral factors, adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the risk of metabolic syndrome were 2.43 (2.33–2.54) for class I and 2.69 (2.49–2.91) for class II sarcopenia, compared with the normal reference. Sarcopenia was more strongly associated with metabolic syndrome in women than men (p for interaction Conclusions: This study identified that sarcopenia was associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome, showing itself to be significantly higher in women than men.

Keywords

• sarcopenia
• metabolic syndrome
• threshold levels
• sex difference