New research presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) reveals that individuals with diabetes who have low muscle mass face a doubled risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD).
This association is independent of factors like frailty, blood sugar control, and complications such as retinopathy (damage to the retina’s blood vessels) and nephropathy (kidney disease).
Sarcopenia, which refers to the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, was known to be associated with CVD and mortality in individuals with diabetes.
However, it wasn’t clear how blood sugar control or diabetes-related complications affected this relationship.
To investigate further, researchers from Hallym University in South Korea and colleagues used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) involving 1,514 adults with diabetes in the US.
Among them, 196 participants had low muscle mass, and 1,318 had normal muscle mass.
Over an average follow-up period of 9.3 years, 413 deaths occurred, with 147 due to CVD. Participants with low muscle mass had a 44% higher risk of all-cause mortality and were twice as likely to die from CVD compared to those with normal muscle mass.
These results held true even after adjusting for various factors, including age, sex, race, smoking status, and diabetes duration.
The study’s authors concluded that the increased risk of death in individuals with diabetes who have low muscle mass is not related to factors like frailty or poor blood sugar control but is due to the loss of muscle itself.
They emphasize the importance of considering body composition when treating obesity and managing weight in people with diabetes.
Dr. Yu, one of the researchers, noted that for individuals with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese, guidelines recommend therapies to achieve and maintain weight loss.
However, assessing treatment goals based solely on body weight may not reveal if someone is sarcopenic, highlighting the need to consider body composition in diabetes management.
This research offers valuable insights into the relationship between low muscle mass and cardiovascular disease risk in diabetes and emphasizes the importance of addressing muscle health in diabetes management.
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