Prevalence and associated factors of sarcopenia in older adults with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Sarcopenia adversely affects physical function and metabolic health in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We determined its prevalence and associated clinical, metabolic, and renal factors. This cross-sectional study included 115 adults aged 60–75 years with T2DM. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria. Skewed variables, including urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR), were log10-transformed. Univariate comparisons were adjusted using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate. A four-predictor logistic regression model maintained more than 10 events per variable. Handgrip strength and raw triglycerides were excluded because of incorporation bias and collinearity, respectively. Sarcopenia was present in 61 participants (53.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 43.5–62.4): 24/52 men (46.2%) and 37/63 women (58.7%). After false-discovery-rate adjustment, participants with sarcopenia were older and had lower body mass index and appendicular skeletal muscle mass index, longer gait time, lower handgrip strength, higher body-fat percentage, higher triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio and triglycerides, and greater UACR. In multivariable analysis, longer gait time (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.54 per second; 95% CI 1.16–2.05), TG/HDL-C ratio (aOR 1.26; 95% CI 1.08–1.48), body-fat percentage (aOR 1.11; 95% CI 1.03–1.20), and log10 UACR (aOR 1.22; 95% CI 1.02–1.46) were associated with sarcopenia. Apparent model discrimination was good (area under the curve 0.842; 95% CI 0.771–0.913). Sarcopenia was highly prevalent in older adults with T2DM and was associated with poorer physical performance, adiposity, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, and albuminuria. These cross-sectional associations do not establish causality and require confirmation in larger independent prospective multicentre studies. Not applicable, as this was an observational cross-sectional study.