Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction : Sarcopenia is a clinical condition defined as low skeletal muscle mass and function. It has been identified and described as a geriatric syndrome, increasing the risk of frailty, comorbidities and mortality. However, sarcopenia may arise in individuals with obesity at any age. Our objective was therefore to screen for sarcopenia in a group of obese adults.

Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out on 53 obese patients who consulted the Human Obesity Research Unit of the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology of Tunis, between November 2022 and February 2023. Screening for sarcopenia has been established according to pathological thresholds proposed by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO)¹.

Results: The mean age of patients was 44.34±13.51 years. The majority of our patients were female (79.2%), with a gender ratio (M/F) of 0.26. Mean BMI was 39.78±5.92 kg/m²;. Average waist circumference was 125±11 cm for men and 120±11 cm for women. Mean visceral fat was 11.35±5.38 l. Mean body fat percentage was 46.2±7.23%. Almost all patients (94.3%) had a high body fat percentage. The mean values for skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and percentage of skeletal muscle mass to weight (SMM/W) were 31.37±7.30 kg and 29.26±5.01% respectively. More than half the patients (54.7%) had low skeletal muscle mass. 17% of patients had poor grip strength. Sarcopenia was present in 7.5% of the population (SO+). The mean age of the obese sarcopenic was 50.25 years, compared with 43.86 years for the non-sarcopenics (P=0.444). Half of SO+ patients were men, compared with 18.37% of SO- patients (P=0.134). 50% of sarcopenic obese patients (SO+) had a low socioeconomic status, vs 4% of non-sarcopenic obese patients (SO-). The difference was statistically significant (P=0.004). All sarcopenic obese people were sedentary, compared with only 77.5% of non-sarcopenic obese people. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Screening for sarcopenia should be carried out in obese patients regardless of age in order to better assess obesity severity beyond body mass index (BMI), which is now recognized as an insufficient criterion for defining this chronic disease with multiple comorbidities.

Reference: 1. Donini LM, Busetto L, Bischoff SC, Cederholm T, et al. Definition and Diagnostic Criteria for Sarcopenic Obesity: ESPEN and EASO Consensus Statement. Obes Facts. 2022;15(3):321-35.