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. 2023 Oct 20;18(10):e0292654.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292654. eCollection 2023.

U-shaped association between plasma C-peptide and sarcopenia: A cross-sectional study of elderly Chinese patients with diabetes mellitus

Ming-Jun Chen  1 , Jing Leng  1 , Jian-Ping Ni  1 , Ai-Ling Xiong  1 , Man-Yun Hu  1
Affiliations

U-shaped association between plasma C-peptide and sarcopenia: A cross-sectional study of elderly Chinese patients with diabetes mellitus

Ming-Jun Chen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Limited research exists regarding the relationship between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and sarcopenia. As a result, our study aimed to examine this association in elderly Chinese diabetic patients. This cross-sectional study included 288 elderly patients with diabetes mellitus from the Fourth People's Hospital in Guiyang who were enrolled prospectively between March 2020 and February 2023. The independent variable of interest was fasting plasma C-peptide, while the dependent variable was sarcopenia. Data on several covariates, including demographic factors, lifestyle habits, co-morbidities, anthropometric indicators, and laboratory indicators, were also collected. Of the 288 participants, 27.43% (79/288) had sarcopenia. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, we found a U-shaped association between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and sarcopenia, with inflection points identified at approximately 774 pmol/L and 939 mmol/L. Within the range of 50-744 pmol/L, each 100 pmol/L increase in CysC was associated with a 37% decrease in the odds of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR], 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.83; P < 0.001). Additionally, within the range of 939-1694 pmol/L, each 100 pmol/L increase in fasting plasma C-peptide was associated with a 76% increase in the odds of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR], 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 2.81; P = 0.017). Our study revealed a U-shaped association between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and the likelihood of sarcopenia, with lower risk in the range of 774-939 pmol/L. These findings may assist in the development of more effective prevention and treatment strategies for sarcopenia in elderly diabetic patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The process of enrolling patients involved in this study.
Fig 2
Fig 2. A non-linear relationship between fasting C-peptide and sarcopenia.
The level of fasting C-peptide is plotted on the horizontal axis, while the probability of sarcopenia is plotted on the vertical axis. The middle line reflects the trend in the association between C-peptide and sarcopenia, while the upper and lower lines indicate the corresponding 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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