Diagnosis and Prevalence of Sarcopenic Obesity Associated with Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Insulin Resistance in Adults Clinically Selected for Lifestyle Modification Program

Abstract

Obesity and sarcopenia are anthropometric risk factors that presently, when combined, represent a worse perspective for disability and mortality. The present study aimed to characterize obesity and sarcopenia, as well sarcopenic obesity and its related morbidities in free-living adults clinically selected for a lifestyle modification program(MEV).The study analyzed retrospectively baseline data from 523 individuals, from both genders that spontaneously joint the MEV (Move for Health-"Mexa-se Pró-Saúde")program. The selected sample had data of medical anamneses, anthropometry, physical (and cardiorespiratory) fitness and blood biochemistry. Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) was defined by NCEP-ATP III (2004) criteria and altered waist circumference used for abdominalobesity definition. Sarcopenia was defined by the lower quartile of muscle-mass index. Statistical analyzes were performed by SAS software 9.2 (p <0.05). The sample was 54.74 ± 10.18 years old, 72.7% females. When compared with non-obese, the abdominal obese subjects presented, as expected, higher BMI, % BF and MMI, along with higher values of triglycerides, blood glucose, HOMA-IR, CRP, uric acid and reduced values of plasma HDL-c, trunk flexibility and VO2max. On the other hand, sarcopenic status (lower MMI quartile)) was associated with lower values of hand grip strength, HDL-c and higher HOMA-IR. The individuals with combined sarcopenic-obesity (20.6%) were older and presented lower muscle strength and aerobic fitness as well lower plasma HDL-c and higher HOMA-IR. However, the presence of MetS was similar in the presence (23.3%) or absence (21.1%) of sarcopenic obesity. Cardiorespiratory fitness was the only age-dependent discriminate of (abdominal) obese sarcopenia. Thus, sarcopenic obesity did not discriminate MetS and was related to lower physical fitness having cardiorespiratory fitness as its is major agingdependent discriminant.