Prevalence and Associated Factors of Sarcopenic Obesity in the Community Elderly: Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Background: Through a meta-analysis and systematic review, the present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, associated factors and prognosis of sarcopenic obesity in the elderly in the community. Methods: From database inception to 31 December 2025, this study performed a full database of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, CNKI, CBM, WANFANG, and VIP database. Two researchers undertook a systematic process of data extraction and literature quality evaluation. Stata 17 was used to evaluate the prevalence, associated factors and prognosis of sarcopenic obesity in the elderly in the community. Results: Our study included a total of 37 sources, encompassing 80,337 elderly individuals in the community. The results showed that the sarcopenic obesity prevalence in this population was 10%(95%CI: 8-11%), with a 95% prediction interval of 1.4-31.2%, and its occurrence was related to multiple associated factors such as age (OR = 1.83, 95%CI: 1.21-2.76), male (OR = 3.38, 95%CI: 1.53-7.49), low physical activity (OR = 1.56, 95%CI: 1.13-2.16), moderate-to-high physical activity (OR = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.51-0.77), low income (OR = 1.71, 95%CI: 1.04-2.83), unemployment (OR = 1.88, 95%CI: 1.29-2.75) and insufficient energy intake (OR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.02-1.50). The poor prognosis of sarcopenic obesity in the elderly in the community, including falls, disability, increased risk of hospitalization, and death, seriously affects their quality of life. Conclusions: The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity in the elderly in the community is relatively high. Age, gender, income level and other factors are closely associated with the occurrence of sarcopenic obesity and can lead to serious adverse consequences. It is recommended that primary medical institutions should focus on people at a high risk of sarcopenic obesity. Community medical personnel can formulate targeted prevention and control measures according to their associated factors to achieve early screening, diagnosis and intervention.