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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Dec 23:12:782391.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.782391. eCollection 2021.

The Association Between Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Sarcopenia: Accumulated Evidences From Observational Studies

Yu-Shun Qiao  1 , Yin-He Chai  1 , Hong-Jian Gong  1 , Zhiyessova Zhuldyz  1 , Coen D A Stehouwer  2 , Jian-Bo Zhou  3 , Rafael Simó  4   5   6
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Association Between Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Sarcopenia: Accumulated Evidences From Observational Studies

Yu-Shun Qiao et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Aim: We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate the association between the presence of sarcopenia and HbA1c, prediabetes, diabetes and diabetic complications.

Method: The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to May 2021. We included full-text English language articles that reported the prevalence of sarcopenia in patients with and without diabetes. Quality assessment was performed according to the Newcastle- Ottawa scale for observational studies.

Results: Sixteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Three studies showed that high HbA1c levels lead to loss of muscle mass, and one study involving prediabetes showed that people with prediabetes had lower muscle mass, strength, and performance than non-diabetic population. Seven studies showed that people with diabetes had a higher risk of sarcopenia than those without diabetes (combined OR: 2.09, 95% CI:1.62-2.70). The remaining five studies suggested that diabetic complications increased the risk of sarcopenia (combined OR: 2.09,95% CI:1.62-2.70).

Conclusion: High HbA1c levels, prediabetes, diabetes and diabetes complications were associated with an increased risk of sarcopenia. Therapeutic strategies addressed to avoid the conversion of IGT to diabetes and to optimize glycemic control are warranted to prevent or arrest sarcopenia in the diabetic population.

Keywords: HbA1c; diabetes mellitus; diabetic complications; observational study; prediabetes; sarcopenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Meta-analysis of the association between diabetes and the risk of sarcopenia. (B) Subgroup analysis of the association between diabetes and the risk of sarcopenia according to age. (C) Subgroup analysis of the association between diabetes complications and the risk of sarcopenia according to diabetic vascular disease. (D) Subgroup analysis of the association between diabetes complications and the risk of sarcopenia according to different diabetic complications. OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. Where I2 is the variation in effect estimates attributable to heterogeneity, overall is the pooled random/fixed effect estimate of all studies. subtotal is the pooled random effects estimate of sub-group analysis studies. Weights are from random-effects analysis. %Weight is the weight assigned to each study, based on the inverse of the within- and between-study variance. The size of the grey boxes around the point estimates reflects the weight assigned to each study.
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