Background: Some studies have investigated the relationship between sarcopenia and metabolic syndrome, and they have focused mainly on older subjects. Therefore, we assessed the association between sarcopenia and metabolic syndrome in South Korean adults 20 years of age or older using data from the 2009–2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods: This study involved 12,256 (5350 males and 6906 females) participants from the 2009–2010 KNHANES 20 years of age or older. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry. Sarcopenia index (SI) was calculated as ASM/body mass index and sarcopenia was defined as an SI of <0.789 in males and <0.521 in females. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the presence of at least three of the following abnormalities: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood glucose level, high triglyceride level, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. Results: After adjustment for covariates, the association between sarcopenia and metabolic syndrome was significant (odds ratio [OR] 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.74–2.45). In addition, when stratified by age groups, the significant associations between sarcopenia and metabolic syndrome remained in all age groups (20–39 years: OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.08–4.19; 40–64 years: OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.68–2.71; ≥65 years: OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.54–2.54). Conclusion: The association between sarcopenia and metabolic syndrome was significant in South Korean adults. Moreover, the significant associations were present in every age group evaluated.

Background: Epidemiologic studies of the association between alcohol consumption and carotid artery structure have reported conflicting results. We investigated the association between alcohol consumption and carotid atherosclerosis by evaluating the effects of alcohol intake on carotid artery enlargement. Methods: The study population consisted of 4302 community-dwelling Koreans (1577 men and 2725 women) aged 50 years and over. All the subjects had participated in the baseline survey of the Dong-gu Study conducted between 2007 and 2008. Daily alcohol consumption was determined by the number and frequency of alcoholic beverages consumed. We measured common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT), common carotid and bulb IMT (CB-IMT), carotid plaques, and the diameter of the common carotid artery (CCA-diameter) using high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. We used analysis of covariance and multiple logistic regressions to determine the relationship between alcohol consumption and carotid artery parameters. Results: CCA-IMT and CB-IMT were negatively correlated with alcohol consumption after controlling for cardiovascular risk factors in men (p for linear trend = 0.009 and = 0.038, respectively). The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for carotid plaques was significantly higher in men who consumed >40.0 g/d (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.13-2.91), although a significant positive correlation was observed between alcohol consumption and carotid plaques (p for linear trend = 0.027). Neither carotid IMT nor carotid plaques were correlated with alcohol intake in women. Alcohol intake was positively correlated with CCA-diameter adjusted for carotid IMT and plaques in the multivariate-adjusted model in both sexes (p for linear trend <0.001 for men and 0.020 for women). Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that alcohol consumption is inversely related to carotid IMT and positively related to carotid plaques in men, but not women. However, alcohol intake is positively associated with CCA-diameter in both men and women. Additional large population-based prospective studies are needed to confirm the effects of alcohol consumption on carotid artery structure.

Large waist circumference is linked to poor health. Investigations of the relationship between waist circumference, as an index of abdominal fat, and bone mineral density (BMD) have yielded inconsistent results. We investigated the association between abdominal obesity measured using waist circumference and BMD in a large-scale population-based study. We enrolled 8981 Korean (3592 males and 5389 females) community-dwelling individuals aged ≥50 years from 2007 to 2010. BMD was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at lumbar spine and femoral neck skeletal sites. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between waist circumference quartiles and BMD after adjusting for age, height, weight, and regular exercise. The adjustment for age, height, weight, and regular exercise revealed a negative linear association between quartile of waist circumference and BMD at the femoral neck and lumbar spine sites in males and females. Waist circumference was more strongly correlated with BMD in males than in females. Although the correlations were slightly attenuated following further adjustment for percent body fat, they remained statistically significant. Our results revealed that waist circumference is independently and inversely associated with BMD after adjusting for age, weight, height, regular exercise and percent body fat, suggesting that waist circumference is a potential predictor of osteoporosis in middle-aged and older Korean males and females.

Lee SH, et al. Chonnam Med J. 2019 Sep;55(3):150-155. https://doi.org/10.4068/cmj.2019.55.3.150