Background: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is an emerging global health issue attributed to an ageing population. However, the association between low skeletal muscle mass, sarcopenic obesity, and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction remains unclear. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between low skeletal muscle mass, sarcopenic obesity, and diastolic dysfunction in a large cohort of Korean adults.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 31 258 subjects who underwent health examinations at Samsung Medical Centre's Health Promotion Centre in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Relative skeletal muscle mass was calculated using the skeletal muscle mass index [SMI (%) = appendicular skeletal muscle mass (kg)/body weight (kg) × 100], which was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Cardiac structure and function were evaluated by echocardiography.
Results: Amongst the 31 258 subjects, 3058 (9.78%) were determined to have diastolic dysfunction. The odds ratio (OR) of diastolic dysfunction was 1.56 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31-1.85; p for trend <0.001] for the lowest SMI tertile relative to the highest SMI tertile following multivariable adjustment. Furthermore, the risk of diastolic dysfunction was much higher in the sarcopenic obesity (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.44-1.99), followed by in the obesity-only (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.21-1.62), and sarcopenia-only (OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.08-1.61) when compared with the nonobese, nonsarcopenic group. These results remained consistent amongst the elderly (age ≥ 65 years).
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that lower skeletal muscle mass and sarcopenic obesity are strongly associated with diastolic dysfunction in middle-aged and older adults.
Keywords: ageing; diastole; heart failure; obesity; sarcopenia; skeletal muscle.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.