Journal Article

The prevalence and factors associated with sarcopenia among community living elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care clinics in Malaysia

Tan, Ngiap Chuan, Chan, Yoke Mun, Sazlina, Shariff-Ghazali, A. Hamid, Mohamad Shariff, Lee, Ping Yein

2020

Overview

Sarcopenia is a recognised geriatric syndrome but few studies address its associated factors among elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in South East Asia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and its associated factors among the elderly with T2DM in public primary care clinics in Malaysia. This study utilised data from a longitudinal study of 506 adults with T2DM aged ≥60 years. Data on socio-demography, clinical and functional status, diet and levels of physical activity (PA) were collected. Sarcopenia was defined using Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria and its associated factors were analysed using multiple logistic regression. The proportion of elderly with T2DM with sarcopenia was 28.5%. Those aged ≥70 years (β = 0.73;OR = 2.07; 95%CI = 1.24, 3.48; p = 0.006), men (β = 0.61; OR = 1.84; 95%CI = 1.12, 3.02; p = 0.017), with ≥10 years duration of diabetes (β = 0.62; OR = 1.85; 95%CI = 1.11, 3.09; p = 0.018), not using insulin sensitizers (β = -1.44; OR = 0.24; 95%CI = 0.08, 0.71; p = 0.010), using less than 5 medications (β = 0.68; OR = 1.98; 95%CI = 1.17, 3.36; p = 0.011), low body mass index (BMI) (β = -2.43; OR = 0.09; 95%CI = 0.05, 0.17; p<0.001), and engaging in low (β = 0.77; OR = 2.15; 95%CI = 1.07, 4.35; p = 0.032) and moderate physical activities (β = 0.80; OR = 2.23; 95%CI = 1.07, 4.66; p = 0.033) were associated with sarcopenia. Factors that predicts sarcopenia such as level of physical activity and body mass index were among the modifiable factors that could be used in developing future strategies to prevent or delay the progression of sarcopenia among elderly with T2DM to improve their health status.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Age / Age Factors / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Biology and Life Sciences / Blood pressure / Body mass / Body Mass Index / Body size / Correlation analysis / Demographic aspects / Demography / Diabetes / Diabetes mellitus / Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent) / Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications / Diabetes therapy / Diabetic retinopathy / Elderly / Exercise / Female / Gait / Geriatrics / Health aspects / Health care / Health sciences / Hemoglobin / Humans / Independent Living - statistics & numerical data / Insulin / Longitudinal studies / Malaysia - epidemiology / Male / Medical research / Medicine / Medicine and Health Sciences / Middle Aged / Nutrition / Older people / People and Places / Physical activity / Physical fitness / Prevalence / Primary care / Primary Health Care - statistics & numerical data / Quality of life / Regression analysis / Risk Factors / Sarcopenia / Sarcopenia - epidemiology / Sarcopenia - etiology / Statistics / Type 2 diabetes / Working groups