Analysis of 16,000 senior citizens in Japan
While it is known that elderly diabetic patients have high sarcopenia, a study found that it begins at the pre-diabetic stage.
A research team from the Department of Endocrinology at Juntendo University in Japan compared the risk of sarcopenia in the diabetic group and the diabetic pre-diabetic group among the elderly in Japan. Published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.
Sarcopenia is characterized by deterioration of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical function due to aging, and it is known that elderly diabetic patients are twice as common as those who do not.
With the aging of the population, the number of diabetic patients as well as the pre-diabetic population is increasing. It is known that pre-diabetes has a high risk of progressing to diabetes and, like diabetic patients, a high risk of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and myocardial infarction. However, the degree of risk of sarcopenia in prediabetes is unclear.
The subjects of this study were regarding 1,600 elderly (687 males) around the age of 73. Through the test, they were divided into three groups: normal (304 men, 528 women), prediabetes (183 people, 271 people), and type 2 diabetes (200 people, 143 people).
The test criteria are: fasting blood glucose less than 110 mg/dL, blood glucose level less than 140 mg/dL for 2 hours following glucose loading, or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) less than 6.5% as normal, fasting blood sugar greater than 126 mg/dL, or glucose tolerance test greater than 200 mg/dL or HbA1c 6.5 % or more were defined as type 2 diabetes, and the rest were defined as prediabetes.
For the evaluation of sarcopenia, Asian standard grip strength (male less than 28kg, female less than 18kg) and skeletal muscle mass (7kg/m2, 5.7kg/m2) were used. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 12.7% and 11.9% for men and women, respectively.
As a result of analysis by adjusting for age, obesity index, exercise amount, and energy intake, the risk factors for atrophy were prediabetes in addition to diabetes in men (odds ratios of 2.61 and 2.08, respectively). In women, it was only type 2 diabetes.
Also, for both men and women, aging (1.08, 1.19) and body fat (1.34, 1.21) were risk factors, and an increase in obesity index was a protective factor (0.37, 0.49). The research team explained, “Early improvement of lifestyle habits such as exercise and diet is important not only in preventing diabetes, but also in preventing sarcopenia.”
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