Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Sarcopenia, defined as the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, is common for individuals with obesity due to adipose tissue disorders, metabolic changes associated with a sedentary lifestyle and during the ageing process. However, sarcopenia can occur in obese people at any age. Our objectives were therefore to screen for sarcopenia in a group of obese adults, and to identify the clinical risk factors associated with sarcopenic obesity.

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.

Results: Average age of patients was 44.34±13.51 years. Mean BMI was 39.78±5.92 kg/m²;. Almost all patients (94.3%) had a high fat mass percentage. More than half the patients (54.7%) had low skeletal muscle mass (SMM/W). Sarcopenia was present in 7.5% of the population (SO+). Mean Body Mass Index (BMI) (45.86 kg/m² for OS+ vs 39.29 kg/m² for OS-; P=0.03) and mean visceral fat (16.55 l for OS+, vs 10.93 l for OS-; P=0.043) were significantly higher in sarcopenic obesity. Similarly, mean BMI (41.57 kg/m² for low SMM/W vs 37.62 kg/m² for normal SMM/W; P=0.006), and mean percentages of severe obesity (58.62% for low SMM/W, vs 25% for normal SMM/W; P=0.048) and fat mass (49.25% for low SMM/W, vs 42.52% for normal SMM/W; P<0.001) were significantly higher in cases of low skeletal muscle mass. Mean visceral fat was also higher in cases of low skeletal muscle mass than in cases of normal skeletal muscle mass, but with no significant difference (12.21 l for low SMM/W, vs 10.65 l for normal SMM/W; P=0.3).

Conclusions: Our results showed that high BMI and altered body composition, including increased fat mass percentage and high viceral fat, were the anthropometric risk factors associated with the development of sarcopenic obesity. We therefore recommend a balanced diet combined with regular physical activity to reduce the risk of sarcopenia and associated comorbidities.