Background: Sarcopenia has emerged as a significant public health concern. Uric acid (UA), as a metabolite with excellent antioxidant capacity, has been found to be associated with sarcopenia. However, the casual effects of UA on incident sarcopenia still remain unclear. Our study aimed to explore the longitudinal association between UA and incident sarcopenia among middle-aged and older adults.
Method: A total of 5086 participants aged ≥45 years old without sarcopenia at baseline were included from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Due to the sex differences, the UA levels were analyzed by categorizing into sex-specific quartiles or by using UA levels as a continuous variable (per 1 mg/dL). The longitudinal association between UA and incident sarcopenia was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.
Results: During the 4-year follow-up period, 552 (10.85%) participants with incident sarcopenia were identified, of which 370 cases were males and 182 cases were females. Compared to the first quartile (Q1) UA levels, the Q3 and Q4 UA levels were significantly associated with lower risk of incident sarcopenia in males (Q3: adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 0.72; 95% CI (confidence interval), 0.54-0.97; Q4: HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.41-0.80). When UA was as a continuous variable (per 1 mg/dL), the association in males remained significant (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.79-0.97). No significant association was observed in females.
Conclusion: Our findings indicated that UA was negatively associated with incident sarcopenia in males but not in females among middle-aged and older Chinese.
Keywords: CHARLS; longitudinal study; sarcopenia; uric acid.