Low skeletal muscle mass with abdominal obesity ups diabetes risk

Low skeletal muscle mass accompanied by abdominal obesity is significantly associated with a higher risk of incident type 2 diabetes (T2D), irrespective of the glycometabolic parameters, reveals a study.

This retrospective longitudinal study, which examined the effect of reduced skeletal muscle mass and its interaction with abdominal obesity on incident T2D, included 36,304 diabetes-free Koreans who underwent at least two health check-ups annually or biannually.

Bioelectrical impedance analysis was conducted to measure appendicular skeletal muscle mass, presented as a skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) adjusted for body weight. The researchers classified participants into four groups according to initial body composition: normal, presarcopenia alone, abdominal obesity alone, and presarcopenic obesity.

Presarcopenia was characterized by an SMI <1 standard deviation of the sex-specific mean for a healthy young reference group. Abdominal obesity was defined by waist circumferences ≥90 cm for men and ≥85 for women.

During the 7-year follow-up, diabetes had a cumulative incidence of 9.1 percent. In a fully adjusted model, the lowest sex-specific SMI tertile significantly correlated with a higher risk of incident T2D when compared with the highest tertile (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.31, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.18‒1.45).

Additionally, presarcopenic obesity correlated with a marked increase in incident T2D risk (aHR, 1.57, 95 percent CI, 1.42‒1.73) relative to normal body composition, presarcopenic alone, or abdominal obesity alone.