Prevalence of sarcopenia was higher in women than in men: a cross-sectional study from a rural area in eastern China

Yichen Yang; Qin Zhang; Caihong He; Jing Chen; Danfeng Deng; Wenwen Lu; Yuming Wang

doi:10.7717/peerj.13678

Prevalence of sarcopenia was higher in women than in men: a cross-sectional study from a rural area in eastern China

PeerJ. 2022 Aug 2:10:e13678. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13678. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yichen Yang^{1

2}, Qin Zhang^{1

2}, Caihong He^{1

2}, Jing Chen^{1

2}, Danfeng Deng^{1

2}, Wenwen Lu^{1

2}, Yuming Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
² Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Aging and Physic-chemical Injury Diseases of Zhejiang Province, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract

Background: There were limited studies specifically evaluating whether the difference of the prevalence of sarcopenia exists in men and women in older adults from rural areas in China. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of sarcopenia between men and women in a rural area in eastern China and to explore the underlying causes.

Methods: This study included 1,105 participants aged 60-89 years. Muscle mass was measured by bio-electrical impedance analysis. Hand grip strength was measured by Jamar Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia-2019 Consensus. Data were analyzed using log-binomial and linear regression.

Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia was 21.7% in women and 12.9% in men among the study cohort. After adjusting for age, education level, number of diseases, income level, smoking, drinking, and eating habits, proportion of people with sarcopenia was 1.49-fold greater in women than in men (PR = 1.49, 95% CI [1.01-2.26], P = 0.055).

Conclusions: The prevalence of sarcopenia in elderly women in this rural area of eastern China is higher than in men, suggesting that women in rural areas in China seem to be more vulnerable for sarcopenia, thus early screening and prevention need to be provided for them to address such gender disparity in health.

Keywords: Eastern China; Rural; Sarcopenia; Women health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
China / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Hand Strength / physiology
Humans
Male
Prevalence
Sarcopenia* / diagnosis

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development program of China (No. 2018YFC2000301, Funder: Qin Zhang), the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang (No. 2022C03161, Funder: Qin Zhang) and the Medical Health Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission (No. 202038269, Funder: Danfeng Deng; No. 2021430262, Funder: Yuming Wang). There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.