China: A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism has suggested that sarcopenia is more common in diabetes patients. The probable risk factors include age, HbA1c, diabetic nephropathy, visceral fat area (VFA), duration of diabetes, and HS-CRP.
Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass related specifically to aging. It affects your balance, gait, and overall ability to perform daily tasks. Previous studies have shown sarcopenia prevalence in diabetes patients to be three times higher than in non-diabetic patients and are related to poor prognosis. Bin Ma, Key Laboratory of Evidence-Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, P.R.China, and colleagues aimed to investigate the global pooled prevalence and risk factors of sarcopenia in diabetes patients.
For this purpose, the researchers identified relevant studies published until November 30, 2020, from online databases. The study included participants with age ≥18 years with clinically diagnosed diabetes. Sex and diabetes type were not restricted. Two reviewers independently extracted the data using a standard collection form.
Key findings include:
The pooled prevalence of sarcopenia in patients with diabetes was 18%; subgroup analysis showed that sarcopenia was more prevalent in males than in females, as well as being more prevalent in Asia than in South America and Oceania.
Age (OR, 1.10), HbA1c (OR, 1.16), visceral fat area (VFA) (OR, 1.03), diabetic nephropathy (OR, 2.54), duration of diabetes (OR, 1.06), and HS-CRP (OR, 1.33) were risk factors for sarcopenia in patients with diabetes.
Based on the findings the researchers concluded that in the future, medical staff should not only pay attention to the early screening of sarcopenia in high-risk groups but also provide information on its prevention.
Reference:
Liyuan Feng, Qianqian Gao, Kaiyan Hu, Mei Wu, Zhe Wang, Fei Chen, Fan Mei, Li Zhao, Bin Ma, Prevalence and risk factors of sarcopenia in patients with diabetes: A meta-analysis, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2021;, dgab884, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgab884