Sarcopenic obesity: epidemiology and cut-off values in the Ukrainian population

Abstract

Sarcopenic obesity is a term increasingly used to describe the loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia) and obesity associated with aging and chronic disease. There is still no commonly accepted definition of sarcopenic obesity and its diagnostic criteria, which affects the determination of its prevalence, assessment of clinical significance, and negative health consequences. The aim of the study was to assess the fat and lean mass cut-off values for sarcopenic obesity in the Ukrainian population. We used the Zoico method (60th percentile) in a cohort of 3095 subjects (2666 women and 429 men) aged 20-90 years old for assessment of the fat-percentage cut-off values. Cut-off values for lean mass were calculated as –2 SD in 770 healthy subjects (385 females and 385 males) aged 20-39 years old. The fat and lean mass parameters were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, Hologic, Discovery). The use of different diagnostic criteria for sarcopenic obesity demonstrated its wide variability in men (0-6.5%) and women (0.1-10.5%), which justifies the need to determine Ukrainian population cut-off values. Zoico cut-off values for fat mass were >41% for females and >28% for males. The cut-off values for the ratio of appendicular lean mass to body weight were <22% for women and <28% for men. Our study revealed that the frequency of sarcopenic obesity in the Ukrainian population aged 20-90 years old, using our cut-off values consisted of 9.8% for women and 9.6% for men.