High serum pentosidine linked to sarcopenia in T2DM

In middle-aged and elderly men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), elevated serum concentrations of pentosidine, an advanced glycation end-product, aggravate the risk of sarcopoenia, a new study has found.

Researchers enrolled 182 men with T2DM, all aged ≥50 years. All participants underwent handgrip strength and gait speed assessments, and were subsequently divided into the sarcopoenia (n=83) and nonsarcopoenia (n=99) groups, in accordance with the 2019 guidelines of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopoenia. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to measure serum pentosidine.

As expected, handgrip strength and gait speed were all significantly better among men without sarcopoenia (p<0.001). In contrast, median serum levels of pentosidine were significantly higher among those with sarcopoenia (191.27 vs 34.93 pmol/mL; p<0.001).

After grouping participants into quartiles according to serum pentosidine concentrations, the researchers saw that sarcopoenia prevalence grew progressively along with the categories. The prevalence rate was only 8 percent at the bottom quartile, but jumped to 33 percent at the top group (p<0.001).

Logistic regression analysis confirmed that serum pentosidine was a significant risk factor for sarcopoenia among elderly and middle-aged men with T2DM (odds ratio, 1.01, 95 percent confidence interval, 1.01–1.02; p<0.001). Other notable correlates were body mass index, visceral fat area, and appendicular skeletal mass.

“Elevated serum pentosidine was an independent risk factor for sarcopenia and the detection of serum pentosidine levels in clinic might be helpful for the monitoring of T2DM complicated with sarcopenia in the population,” the researchers said.