Association of Obesity and Sarcopenia Among Adult Filipinos

Objective: Studies on the association of obesity and sarcopenia are conflicting. Some studies showed that obesity is associated with muscle loss and frailty while others showed that lower body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased sarcopenia. To date, there is paucity of data on sarcopenia and obesity among Filipinos. This study aims to determine the association of obesity and sarcopenia among Filipinos.

Methods: This is a cross sectional analytic study comparing sarcopenic versus nonsarcopenic in terms of obesity as measured by BMI and waist circumference (WC). Filipinos older than 40 years were included. Obesity was defined using the World Health Organization (WHO) cutoff for BMI and WC. Sarcopenia was defined as low muscle mass and low muscle strength or physical performance. Population-specific cutoff points were used to define low muscle mass, strength, and performance.

Results: A total of 164 participants were included. The mean age is 60.33 years. Ten (6.1%) were sarcopenic and 4 (40%) of them were obese. Regression analysis showed that obesity is not significantly associated with increased sarcopenia (incidence risk ratio [IRR], 14.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96-221.92; P = 0.05). However, age (IRR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.09-1.21; P ≤ 0.01), WC (IRR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.99; P = 0.02), smoking (IRR, 3.17; 95% CI, 1.11-9.03; P = 0.03), and alcoholic beverage drinking (IRR, 3.71; 95% CI, 1.26-10.89; P = 0.02) were found to be significant predictors of sarcopenia.

Conclusions: There is no statistically significant association between obesity and increased risk of sarcopenia among participants, however, older age, smaller WC, smoking, and alcoholic beverage drinking were significant predictors of sarcopenia.