Prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty and their effects on health status and quality of life in older adults with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective To determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty in older adults with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and examine their effects on health status and quality of life (QoL). Methods A purposive sample of 280 older adults with uncontrolled T2DM was recruited in this descriptive correlational study. The research instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the SARC-F questionnaire, the FRAIL scale, a visual analog scale (VAS) assessing health status, and the WHOQOL questionnaire. Uncontrolled T2DM was defined as hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) >7% or fasting blood sugar >130 mg/dL after at least 8 h of fasting, in accordance with the American Diabetes Association guidelines. Sarcopenia and frailty were assessed using the SARC-F (≥4) and FRAIL scale (≥3), respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results The prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty was 11.4% and 5.4%, respectively. There was a statistically significant interaction effect between sarcopenia and frailty on health status, F (2, 274) = 23.71, P < 0.001, partial η 2 = 0.148, and QoL, F (2, 274) = 5.59, P = 0.004, partial η 2 = 0.039. There were significant main effects of sarcopenia and frailty on health status, F (1, 274) = 57.19, P < 0.001, and F (2, 274) = 40.53, P < 0.001, respectively. There were significant main effects of frailty on QoL F (2, 274) = 7.06, P = 0.001, but there were no statistically significant main effects of sarcopenia on QoL: F (1, 274) = 3.57, P = 0.06. Conclusions Early detection of sarcopenia and frailty in older adults with uncontrolled T2DM is essential to promoting health and QoL. Future studies should develop interventions to prevent and delay sarcopenia and frailty in this population.