What is it about?
Recent studies suggested that sarcopenia may be a significant comorbidity of diabetes mellitus. We did the data analysis by using nationally-representative data from the US to estimate the prevalence of sarcopenia among older adults. We found that participants with diabetes faced a 1.48 times greater risk of sarcopenia than their non-diabetic counterparts. We also identified several risk factors for sarcopenia. Our findings also suggest that physical activity, especially muscle-strengthening activity, may help to counteract the risk of sarcopenia.
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Why is it important?
Globally, the rising burden of diabetes is a substantial concern for healthcare systems, with about 9% of the worldwide population diagnosed with diabetes. Sarcopenia may be significant comorbidity of diabetes. Skeletal muscle is a key insulin target tissue. It has also been reported that every 10% reduction in skeletal-muscle loss can save about one billion dollars of US medical-care costs per year. Identifying the risk factors of sarcopenia may help decrease the burden of both diseases.
Perspectives
Among the risk factors, physical activity is a highly modifiable factor. From the perspective of sarcopenia, increasing physical activity level, particularly muscle-strengthening activity, may prevent the progression of both sarcopenia and diabetes.
Feng CHEN
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Higher risk of sarcopenia in older adults with type 2 diabetes: NHANES 1999-2018, Obesity Facts, April 2023, Karger Publishers,
DOI: 10.1159/000530241.
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