Prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and factors associated with sarcopenic obesity in older adults from a low middle income country: A systematic review

Maria Sortênia Alves Guimarães; Carolina Araújo Dos Santos; Joice da Silva Castro; Leidjaira Lopes Juvanhol; Fabiane Aparecida Canaan Rezende; Karina Oliveira Martinho; Andréia Queiroz Ribeiro

doi:10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.11.004

Prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and factors associated with sarcopenic obesity in older adults from a low middle income country: A systematic review

Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2021 Feb:41:94-103. doi: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.11.004. Epub 2020 Dec 1.

Authors

Maria Sortênia Alves Guimarães¹, Carolina Araújo Dos Santos², Joice da Silva Castro³, Leidjaira Lopes Juvanhol⁴, Fabiane Aparecida Canaan Rezende⁵, Karina Oliveira Martinho⁶, Andréia Queiroz Ribeiro⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: msortenia@uft.edu.br.
² Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: carolina.a.santos@ufv.br.
³ Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: joice.castro@ufv.br.
⁴ Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: leidjaira@ufv.br.
⁵ Nutrition Science Course, Federal University of Tocantins (UFT), Palmas, TO, Brazil. Electronic address: facrezende@uft.edu.br.
⁶ Course in Physiotherapy, President Antônio Carlos Foundation (FUPAC), Ubá, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: kkmartinho@yahoo.com.br.
⁷ Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: andreia.ribeiro@ufv.br.

PMID: 33487312
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.11.004

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the scientific evidences on the prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and factors related to sarcopenic obesity (SO) in Brazilian older adults.

Methods: this systematic review was based on searches of the databases PubMed, Science Direct, Excerpta Medica Database (Embase), Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and Scopus. The systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). The inclusion criteria were: original articles of observational design that evaluated the presence of sarcopenic obesity in Brazilian older adults (≥60 years). Therefore, studies that investigated only obesity or sarcopenia, animal studies, review studies, congress publications, theses, dissertations, book chapters, editorials, letters to the editor, and newspaper articles were not included.

Results: The initial screening identified 549 records. After removing the duplicates, assessing the titles and abstracts, and the complete analysis of the papers, 12 studies were included in the review. The sample size of the studies ranged from 56 to 1373 subjects, most of them selected by convenience sampling (n = 11) and exclusively with women (n = 9). The prevalence of SO varied from 4.4% to 48.4%. No consensus was found on the diagnostic criteria for SO. The main associations identified were between SO and decrease in muscle strength, aerobic fitness, gait speed, and increase in frequency of frailty and cardiometabolic and inflammatory alterations.

Conclusions: Epidemiological studies conducted so far in Brazil are heterogeneous, which limits the possibility of comparison between prevalence and distribution of sarcopenic obesity among older adults. Further studies with representative samples of the population are required to understand the magnitude of SO in this group.

Keywords: Obesity; Older adults; Sarcopenia.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Aged
Female
Frailty*
Humans
Muscle Strength
Obesity / diagnosis
Obesity / epidemiology
Prevalence
Sarcopenia* / diagnosis
Sarcopenia* / epidemiology