Association between sarcopenia and risk of osteoarthritis among the US adults

Abstract

Background: The association between sarcopenia and the risk of OA still presents many uncertainties. We aimed to assess whether sarcopenia is associated with a higher risk of OA in US adults. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study consisting of 11,456 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006. Sarcopenia was defined by a low muscle mass. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated as the appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by body mass indexes (BMI) or body weight (Wt). OA status was assessed by using self-reported questionnaire. We evaluated the association between sarcopenia and the risk of OA using multivariate regression models. In addition, subgroup and interaction analysis were performed. Results: Sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of OA when it was defined by the BMI-adjusted SMI (OR = 1.23 [95% CI,1.01, 1.51]; P = 0.038) and defined by the weight-adjusted SMI (OR = 1.30 [95% CI,1.10, 1.55]; P = 0.003). Subgroup and interaction analysis found that the strongest positive association mainly exists in smoker (OR = 1.54 [95% CI, 1.21, 1.95], Pint = 0.006), and this association is not significant in other groups. Conclusions: In conclusion, we found that sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of OA. Subgroup analysis revealed that the association between sarcopenia and risk of OA was more pronounced in smoker. Further well-designed prospective cohort studies are needed to assess our results.