Sarcopenia in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Posted March 3, 2021

The aim of the study entitled “Sarcopenia in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study” was to compare the prevalence of low muscle mass and sarcopenia in patients with type 2 diabetes with that of paired controls in order to establish the association between sarcopenia and chronic complications of diabetes. The survey was conducted by the team of the Centro INCT Hormona Universidade Federal do Paraná.

According to the coordinator, professor, and laboratory researcher, Dr. Victória Zeghbi Cochenski Borba, the article was the theme of the master’s thesis presented by Dr. Luciana Pechmann. The research was a continuation of a previous study demonstrating that patients with diabetes had higher rates of sarcopenia than the control group, suggesting that sarcopenia could be a new complication of diabetes.

“The second research confirmed these findings, with a greater number of patients and controls and with more comprehensive assessments of muscle function, such as physical performance, for example,” the researcher explains.

According to Dr. Victória Borba, it was observed that patients presenting with albuminuria (loss of proteins in urine) were more likely to have sarcopenia, as well as those with osteoporosis and higher body fat percentage. The specialist explains that the prevalence of sarcopenia was not different between the sexes. “We observed a difference in body composition, i.e., women with diabetes had higher fat mass compared with non-diabetic controls,” she says. 

The final findings of the study show that, in the two sexes, sarcopenia was associated with total fat percentage, but only in women sarcopenia was associated with android (abdominal) adiposity (fat) and total lean mass. “The long-term impact of sarcopenia on these patients is still unknown, but the study emphasizes the need to evaluate T2DM patients with regard to sarcopenia, so as to allow for the early implementation of measures to prevent or treat this disorder,” she concludes. The full article is available on this link.