The Association Between Sarcopenia Severity and Fall Risk among a Multi-Ethnic Cohort of Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Results from the West China Health And Aging Trend Study

Abstract

Background: The association between sarcopenia severity and fall risk remains underresearched at present. Accordingly, this study was developed to evaluate the relationship between sarcopenic status and prior fall incidence in a multi-ethnic group of middle-aged and older community-dwelling adults in western China. Methods: In total, this cross-sectional analysis incorporated data from 4,500 individuals (2873 female, 1627 male; mean age 62.4 ± 8.3 years). Grip strength, gait speed, and skeletal muscle mass index values were analyzed for all participants, and the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 consensus criteria were leveraged to assess sarcopenia status in these individuals. Prior fall history was defined by any incidents in which an individual unintentionally came to rest on the floor within the past year. The association between sarcopenia status and fall history was examined through a binary logistic regression approach, with P < 0.05 as the threshold for significance. Results: Of the individuals included in this study cohort 3,367 (74.8%) were free of sarcopenia, 107 (2.4%) exhibited pre-sarcopenia, 408 (9.1%) exhibited non-severe sarcopenia, and the remaining 618 (13.7%) exhibited severe sarcopenia. Previous fall incidence was reported for 8.9% of study cohort members, and this history of prior falls was significantly higher among older adults relative to younger individuals. A significant link between sarcopenia and fall risk was observed when using a model that was fully adjusted for age, ethnicity, marital status, osteoarthrosis, gastrointestinal disease, diabetes, history of stroke, hypertension, depression score, and SPMSQ score (OR=1.41, 95%CI: (1.07-1.85), P=0.014), whereas this same relationship was not observed for individuals with mild sarcopenia or pre-sarcopenia. Conclusions: Severe sarcopenia, as defined per the AWGS2019 criteria, was associated with a significantly higher risk of falls in this multi-ethnic cohort of middle-aged and older adults from western China, whereas this increased fall risk was not evident for individuals with mild sarcopenia or pre-sarcopenia.