Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. May 15, 2019; 10(5): 311-323
Published online May 15, 2019. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v10.i5.311
Association between sarcopenic obesity and higher risk of type 2 diabetes in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Dima Khadra, Leila Itani, Hana Tannir, Dima Kreidieh, Dana El Masri, Marwan El Ghoch
Dima Khadra, Leila Itani, Hana Tannir, Dima Kreidieh, Dana El Masri, Marwan El Ghoch, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 11072809, Lebanon
Author contributions: El Ghoch M designed the work; Khadra D and El Ghoch M performed research, Itani L analyzed data, El Ghoch M, Itani L, Khadra D Tannir H, Kreidieh D, and El Masri D interpreted the data; El Ghoch M revised it critically for important intellectual content; Khadra D, Itani L, Tannir H, Kreidieh D, El Masri D and El Ghoch M drafted the work; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marwan El Ghoch, MD, Academic Research, Chairman, Full Professor, Professor, Head of Department, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beirut Arab University, PO Box 11-5020 Riad El Solh, Beirut 11072809, Lebanon. m.ghoch@bau.edu.lb
Telephone: +961-1-300110
Received: February 28, 2019
Peer-review started: March 4, 2019
First decision: April 13, 2019
Revised: April 17, 2019
Accepted: May 1, 2019
Article in press: May 1, 2019
Published online: May 15, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The coexistence of sarcopenia and obesity is referred to as sarcopenic obesity (SO) and it has been hypothesized that the two components of SO may synergistically increase their negative effects. However, many uncertainties still surround this condition especially with regard to its potential negative effects on health outcomes.

AIM

To conduct a systematic review to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia among adults with overweight and obesity and to investigate whether SO was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

METHODS

This study was conducted in adherence with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Literature searches, study selection, methodology development and quality appraisal were performed independently by two authors and the data were collated by means of meta-analysis and narrative synthesis.

RESULTS

Of the 606 articles retrieved, 11 studies that comprised a total of 60118 adults with overweight and obesity of both genders met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed, revealing two main findings. First, the overall prevalence of sarcopenia is 43% in females and 42% in males who are with overweight and obesity. Secondly, the presence of SO increases the risk of T2D by 38% with respect to those without SO (OR = 1.38, 95%CI: 1.27-1.50).

CONCLUSION

A high prevalence of sarcopenia has been found among adults with overweight and obesity regardless of their gender and this condition seems to be associated with a higher risk of T2D. Clinician should be aware of this scenario in their clinical practice for the better management of both obesity and T2D.

Keywords: Obesity, Overweight, Sarcopenia, Type 2 diabetes, Reduced lean body mass

Core tip: The coexistence of sarcopenia and obesity is referred to a phenotype termed sarcopenic obesity, defined as the increase in body fat deposition, and the reduction in lean mass and muscle strength. Since many uncertainties still surround this condition, especially with regard to its potential negative effects on health outcomes, we conducted this systematic review and found a high prevalence of sarcopenia among adults with obesity. Moreover, this condition seems to be associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Clinicians should be aware of this scenario in their clinical practice for better management of obesity and T2D.