The goal of a new study published in the Journal of Cardiology was to deduce the prevalence of sarcopenia and its subtypes, such as sarcopenic obesity, osteosarcopenia and osteosarcopenic obesity, in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

In this study, physical, motor functional and nutritional assessments were performed for 230 community-dwelling (CD) adults who came to receive a physical check-up, as well as 160 hospitalized patients with CVD. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia guidelines. The subtypes of sarcopenia were consecutively diagnosed – according to increased body fat percentage and decreased bone density.

The results showed that:

• CVD patients had malnutrition when compared to the CD adults.
• Impaired motor function among CVD patients occurred more frequently in females as compared to the males.
• The prevalence of sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia and osteosarcopenic obesity was higher in CVD patients than in CD adults—16.9% versus 4.4, respectively.
• The prevalence of sarcopenia in participants positively correlated to the serum N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide concentration.
• Sarcopenia among the CVD patients was present in a younger population, relative to CD adults. In addition, the prevalence odds ratio of sarcopenia in CVD patients was higher in females than in males.

Thus, the findings indicated that CVD may accelerate sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia and osteosarcopenic obesity.

Source: Journal of Cardiology. 2020 Apr 15;S0914-5087(20)30102-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jjcc.2020.03.004.