Association Between Low Calf Circumference and Incident Sarcopenia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A 3-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

Abstract

Objectives: Calf circumference (CC) is a widely acknowledged indicator of skeletal muscle mass within the current consensus among experts. Nevertheless, the relationship between low calf circumference and new-onset sarcopenia remains unclear within the realm of prospective cohort studies.

Design: A 3-year prospective cohort study.

Setting and participants: A total of 934 community-dwelling participants >60 years of age and devoid of sarcopenia at baseline were enrolled in this study.

Methods: This 3-year prospective cohort investigation recruited participants and data from the West China Health and Aging Trend Study (WCHAT). Sarcopenia criteria for inclusion were established in accordance with the 2019 Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia guidelines: moderately low CC was defined as CC < 34 cm for males and CC < 33 cm for females, and severe diminution of CC was defined as CC < 31 cm for both sexes. Poisson regression models were used to explore the association between low CC status and sarcopenia incidence.

Results: A total of 791 participants completed the 3-year follow-up survey, and 81 (10.24%) developed new-onset sarcopenia. After adjustment for a comprehensive array of potential confounders, moderately low CC was significantly associated with incident sarcopenia (adjusted RR, 3.94; 95% CI, 2.40-6.48). In contrast, participants with severely low CC had a higher risk of sarcopenia incidence (adjusted RR, 5.51; 95% CI, 2.30-13.20).

Conclusions and implications: Within this prospective cohort analysis, low CC emerged as a new independent risk factor for incident sarcopenia over 3 years, with a concomitant escalation in risk observed with severe diminution of CC.