Associations between multimorbidity patterns and sarcopenia transitions in Chinese older adults

Previous studies have shown that chronic diseases are strongly linked to the development of sarcopenia. Few studies have assessed the relationship between multimorbidity patterns and sarcopenia. This study aimed to investigate the impact of multimorbidity patterns on sarcopenia transitions in Chinese older adults.

A total of 3842 older adults (aged 66.7 ± 6.2 years) with complete data at baseline and at least one follow-up record (2 years) were included from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Multimorbidity patterns were identified using latent class analysis. Sarcopenia was determined by the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria. Multistage Markov modeling was used to explore the association of multimorbidity patterns with sarcopenia transitions after controlling for covariates in demographic features, health status and health-related behaviours.

Four multimorbidity patterns were identified at baseline: respiratory (17.73%), osteoarthritis-hypertension (22.23%), digestive-osteoarthritis (26.78) and cardiometabolic (33.27%). Participants with non-sarcopenia had 1-year transition probability of developing possible sarcopenia (10.1%) or sarcopenia (5.4%). Compared with the group without chronic diseases, the presence of cardiometabolic pattern increased the risk of progression from non-sarcopenia to possible sarcopenia (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05-2.95). The presence of the osteoarthritis-hypertension pattern (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.00-2.41) and the digestive-osteoarthritis pattern (HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.20-2.66) were associated with the transition toward sarcopenia from non-sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is a dynamic condition in older adults. To address sarcopenia in older adults, tailored interventions should be targeted at populations with different multimorbidity patterns. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 1137-1143.