Key result
Muscle ultrasound echo intensity was significantly higher in the obese cohort (P<.001) and negatively correlated with muscle mass (r=-.76, P<.001).
Why the study?
This study aimed to investigate the potential use of noninvasive muscle ultrasound for detecting early-developing insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in adults with obesity.
Does muscle ultrasound accurately detect early-developing insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in adults with obesity?
Cross-Sectional
Blinded image analysis
Does muscle ultrasound accurately detect early-developing insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in adults with obesity?
p-value: p=<.001
Muscle ultrasound measuring echo intensity is a promising, noninvasive tool for detecting early insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in at-risk individuals.
Muscle US may aid early insulin resistance detection in obesity; leaves open clinical utility pending validation studies.
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the potential use of noninvasive muscle ultrasound (US) for detecting early-developing insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in adults with obesity. METHODS: , mean age 27 years, 40% male) underwent US examinations of their deltoid and vastus lateralis muscles. Two trained research assistants each independently analyzed the 300 US images, blinded to subject demographics and study cohorts, measuring muscle echo intensity (MEI). In the obese cohort, peripheral insulin sensitivity was evaluated using hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry was performed to assess body composition and calculate sarcopenia indices. Statistical significance was defined as P < .05. RESULTS: The obese cohort demonstrated significantly higher vastus lateralis and deltoid MEI (P < .001), with increased MEI effectively identifying insulin resistance and impaired insulin sensitivity. There was excellent interobserver agreement in MEI assessments for both the deltoid (95% confidence interval [CI] of intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.96-0.997) and vastus lateralis muscles (95% CI of ICC: 0.986-0.999). Furthermore, MEI negatively correlated with muscle mass, as indicated by sarcopenia indices (r = -.76, P < .001), and did not positively correlate with BMI or body weight. CONCLUSIONS: Muscle US has the potential to be a simple, accurate, noninvasive, inexpensive, and radiation-free tool for detecting developing insulin resistance and lower muscle mass in at-risk individuals. This tool could have tremendous clinical impact by enabling earlier and more aggressive targeted interventions in metabolic and muscle dysfunction.
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Soliman et al. (2025) conducted a cross-sectional in Obesity. Muscle ultrasound was evaluated on Vastus lateralis and deltoid muscle echo intensity (MEI) (p=<.001). Muscle ultrasound echo intensity was significantly higher in the obese cohort (P<.001) and negatively correlated with muscle mass (r=-.76, P<.001).
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