Prevalence of Sarcopenia and Sarcopenic Obesity Vary with Race/Ethnicity and Advancing Age

Abstract

Sarcopenia is the natural age-associated loss of muscle mass/function, often occurring simultaneously with obesity, especially in older adults. Sarcopenia and obesity contribute to poor health outcomes and when occurring together as sarcopenic obesity (SO) can cause further health complications. Few studies have specifically considered these conditions across different racial/ethnic populations. This study examined the prevalence of sarcopenia and SO among U.S. adults by different age, sex, and racial/ethnic groups, using 1999-2004 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and its racial/ethnic subpopulation groupings. Sarcopenia was defined as low appendicular lean mass (adjusted for Body Mass Index (BMI) of <0.789 kg/ m 2 for males, <0.512 kg/m 2 for females) and self-reported functional limitation. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 with SO defined as those meeting criteria for both sarcopenia and obesity. The analysis included 4367 adult subjects; for each race/ethnic subpopulation, sarcopenia prevalence increased with age. Sarcopenia prevalence varied by sex and race/ ethnic subpopulation: Hispanic (26.8% male, 27.2% female); Non-Hispanic (NH) White (15.5% male, 15.1% female); NH Black (8.6% male, 1.6% female); and Other (16.5% male, 23.2% female). Sarcopenic obesity also increased with age and varied by sex and race/ethnic subpopulation: Hispanic (8.57% male, 8.87% female); NH White (6.48% male, 8.06% female); NH Black (3.95% male, 1.12% female); and Other (4.46% male, 0.0% female). Increased awareness of variability in sarcopenia/SO may help develop effective screenings/ care management and interventions/public health policies to maintain functionality and reduce health disparities among an increasingly diverse U.S. older adult population.

Sarcopenia in people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Notably, the prevalence of sarcopenia among PLHIV in our study was also greater than observed in many chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (ranged from 14.8 to 15.2%, aged >60 years) [14,49], chronic kidney disease (5.9%, aged 59.9 ± 10.5 years) [50], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (14.5%, aged 63-73 years) [51], and obesity (5.5% in the 40-64 age group) [52]. In contrast, the sarcopenia prevalence among PLHIV was considerably lower than other conditions such as cirrhosis (48.1%) [53] or lung cancer (71%) [13].…”

Sarcopenic Obesity in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy

“…Neither of our two females met the criteria which could indicate that the presence of sarcopenic obesity in different forms of muscular dystrophy is not equivocal. Notably, in adults without muscular dystrophy, it has been shown that females may be less, more, or as likely to develop sarcopenic obesity, as their male counterparts ( Du et al, 2018 ). Among whites, which formed the majority of our study (85%), rates of sarcopenic obesity are similar between age-matched males and females ( Du et al, 2018 ).…”

Sarcopenia and its components in adult renal transplant recipients: prevalence and association with body adiposity

“…It is worth mentioning that in Brazil the classification of ethnicity is a challenge due to the high miscegenation (34) . Although the parameters used to define sarcopenia may present considerable variation depending on the ethnic groups and different geographic locations (14)(15)(16) , the three consensuses used in the present study to define sarcopenia are applicable in our sample population, considering that the proposed cutoff values were based on studies conducted in different ethnic groups and geographic locations (1,6,9) . The existing data regarding body composition, lifestyle and physical activities, factors that may affect the parameters used to define sarcopenia, are scarce among the populations of South America.…”

“…Therefore, sarcopenia prevalence varies widely depending on the criteria used. Additionally, body composition variables including muscle mass, and muscle function parameters used for sarcopenia diagnosis, may vary according to ethnic diversity (14,15,16) .…”