Assessing Sarcopenic Obesity Risk in Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Grip-to-BMI Ratio

Objective: The present investigation aimed to examine the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity in Turkish children aged 6-10 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, while also conducting a comparison of diagnostic methods. Methods: A total of 431 healthy children (230 females, 201 males) were recruited for this study. Various anthropometric measurements, including height, weight, and body mass index (BMI), were collected. Furthermore, body composition was assessed through the utilization of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to ascertain fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and the muscle-to-fat ratio (MFR). Additionally, grip strength was measured to determine the grip strength-to-BMI ratio. McCarthy's framework was employed to define sarcopenic obesity based on MFR cut-offs. Receiver operating characteristic curves were implemented to evaluate the efficacy of the grip strength-to-BMI ratio in identifying the risk of sarcopenic obesity. Results: The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity was found to be 7.8% in females and 8.4% in males. In comparison to the MFR, the grip strength-to-BMI ratio exhibited considerable sensitivity in detecting the risk of sarcopenic obesity. The correlation between the ratio of grip strength to BMI and the muscle-to-fat ratio (MFR) was found to be weak among boys and girls aged 6-8 years (r=0.363, r=0.458, p