Sarcopenic obesity: epidemiology and cut-off values in the Ukrainian population
N.V. Grygorieva, M.A. Bystrytska, A.S. Musiienko
State Institution “D. F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology of the NAMS of Ukraine”, Kyiv, Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/fz69.04.065

Abstract
Sarcopenic obesity is a term increasingly used to describe the loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia) and obesity
associated with aging and chronic disease. There is still no commonly accepted definition of sarcopenic
obesity and its diagnostic criteria, which affects the determination of its prevalence, assessment of clinical
significance, and negative health consequences. The aim of the study was to assess the fat and lean mass
cut-off values for sarcopenic obesity in the Ukrainian population. We used the Zoico method (60th percentile) in a cohort of 3095 subjects (2666 women and 429 men) aged 20-90 years old for assessment of the
fat-percentage cut-off values. Cut-off values for lean mass were calculated as –2 SD in 770 healthy subjects
(385 females and 385 males) aged 20-39 years old. The fat and lean mass parameters were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, Hologic, Discovery). The use of different diagnostic criteria
for sarcopenic obesity demonstrated its wide variability in men (0-6.5%) and women (0.1-10.5%), which
justifies the need to determine Ukrainian population cut-off values. Zoico cut-off values for fat mass were
>41% for females and >28% for males. The cut-off values for the ratio of appendicular lean mass to body
weight were <22% for women and <28% for men. Our study revealed that the frequency of sarcopenic
obesity in the Ukrainian population aged 20-90 years old, using our cut-off values consisted of 9.8% for
women and 9.6% for men.
Keywords:
epidemiology; sarcopenic obesity; sarcopenia; fat mass; lean mass.
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