Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2020 Nov;39(11):3461-3466.
doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.03.006. Epub 2020 Mar 12.

Sarcopenic obesity and its association with respiratory disease incidence and mortality

Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

Sarcopenic obesity and its association with respiratory disease incidence and mortality

Fanny Petermann-Rocha et al. Clin Nutr. 2020 Nov.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenic obesity is defined as a combination of sarcopenia and obesity. Previous studies have shown a positive association between sarcopenia and respiratory disease, while other studies have identified that obese individuals have a lower risk for respiratory diseases. This study aimed to investigate the association of obesity, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity with respiratory disease incidence and mortality.

Methods: Data from 170,083 participants from the prospective UK Biobank study were included. Sarcopenic obesity was defined as the combination of sarcopenia with one of the following obesity criteria: BMI ≥30 kg/m2, waist circumference (WC) ≥ 88 cm in women or ≥ 102 cm in men, or the two highest sex-specific quintiles of body fat. Respiratory disease incidence and mortality were the outcomes.

Results: The mean follow-up period was 7.0 years. 5459 (3.2%) participants developed respiratory diseases and 780 (0.5%) died from respiratory diseases. Compared to individuals without obesity or sarcopenia, those who were obese (Hazard Ratio (HR): 1.13 [95 CI: 1.03; 1.23]), sarcopenic (HR: 1.23 [95% CI: 1.10; 1.36]) or sarcopenic obese (based on BMI) (HR: 1.51 [95% CI: 1.30; 1.77]), had a higher risk of respiratory disease incidence. However, the risk of respiratory disease mortality was higher in sarcopenic individuals and lower in obese individuals. No associations were identified between sarcopenic obesity and respiratory mortality (HR: 1.12 [95% CI: 0.76; 1.63]). Similar patterns were found when obesity was defined using WC or body fat.

Conclusion: Obesity, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were associated with a higher risk of respiratory disease incidence. However, while obesity was associated with lower, and sarcopenia with higher respiratory mortality risk, no associations between sarcopenic obesity and respiratory mortality were identified.

Keywords: Obesity; Respiratory disease; Respiratory mortality; Sarcopenia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest None to declare.

Comment in

Publication types

MeSH terms