Muscle Mass and Body Fat in Relation to Cardiovascular Risk Estimation and Lipid-Lowering Eligibility

This cross-sectional population-based study aimed to evaluate the relationships of muscle-mass and body-fat phenotypes to 10-yr risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and eligibility for lipid management. Participants were Korean adults (N = 7315; 3163 men, 4152 women) aged 40-79 yr, free from stroke and coronary heart disease, who provided complete data for estimating 10-yr CVD risk and body composition during the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2009-2010). Four levels of combined muscle mass and body fat were determined using sex-specific quintiles of appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by height squared, and sex-specific quintiles of total body fat percentage. Ten-year CVD risk was calculated using Pooled Cohort Equations and Framingham risk scores. Lipid-lowering medication eligibility was determined using American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) and Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III guidelines. Compared with the reference group, the risk of CVD events was higher in men with low muscle mass, high body fat, or the 2 factors combined. CVD risk was lower in women with low muscle mass, higher in women with high body fat, and nonsignificant in women with the 2 factors. Participants with low muscle mass and high body fat had higher odds for medication eligibility using the ACC/AHA guidelines but not the ATP III guidelines. Higher estimated 10-yr CVD risk was associated with combined phenotypes of low muscle mass and high fat in men but not in women. Also, the relationship of these phenotypes to lipid-lowering medication eligibility was guideline-specific.