Effects of changes in body composition on cardiometabolic diseases by sex and presence of sarcopenia

Background: Muscle mass loss and fat mass increase are risk factors for cardiometabolic disease. We evaluated the effect of changes in body composition on the incidence of cardiometabolic diseases in older adults with or without sarcopenia, over two-year follow-up. Materials and methods: Changes in body composition and the development of cardiometabolic diseases over 2 years were measured in community-dwelling older adults recruited from the Korean Frailty Aging Cohort Study. Individuals with sarcopenia were 1:1 matched to those without sarcopenia via propensity score matching. Results: Among a total of 1634 eligible subjects, 353 were identified with sarcopenia. In men without sarcopenia, an increase in waist circumference by 1 cm was associated with a 32 % higher risk of the development of hypertension. Conversely, an increase in appendicular lean mass by 1 kg was associated with lower risks of the development of cardiovascular disease (41 % lower) and hyperlipidemia (28 % lower). However, there were no significant associations between changes in body composition and any incident cardiometabolic diseases in men with sarcopenia. Women without sarcopenia who experienced an increase in weight of 1 kg were 21 % less likely to develop hyperlipidemia. In women with sarcopenia, the risk of diabetes mellitus was reduced by 30 % with an incremental increase in weight by 1 kg, while the risk of hyperlipidemia increased almost threefold with an increase in appendicular lean mass by 1 kg. Conclusions: In older adults without sarcopenia, a decrease in obesity-related indices and a gain in muscle gain are beneficial for men, but inverse relationships between weight and cardiometabolic diseases were reported in women. We found no cardiometabolic benefit of increasing lean mass in older adults with sarcopenia regardless of sex.