ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1617808
Influence of Probable Respiratory Sarcopenia on Chronic Lung Diseases: A Population-Based Cohort Study of Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Affiliated Hospital of Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Shaoxing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shaoxing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The impact of probable respiratory sarcopenia (RS) on the prevalence and incidence of chronic lung diseases (CLDs) in middle-aged and older adults remains poorly understood. This study utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to explore this association.Methods: A total of 6,614 participants aged 45 and above were included in a cross-sectional analysis in 2011, and 5,630 participants were followed for 7 years for longitudinal analysis. Probable RS was defined as a coexistence of low respiratory muscle strength and reduced appendicular skeletal muscle (ASM) mass by a position paper by four professional organizations. CLDs were identified based on self-reported medical diagnoses, including asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and pulmonary heart disease. Statistical analyses included logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression models to assess the association between probable RS and CLDs, adjusted for a wide range of covariates.In the cross-sectional analysis, probable RS (odds ratio [OR] = 2.18, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.84 ~2.58, P < 0.001), low ASM mass (OR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.51 ~2.11, P < 0.001), and low respiratory muscle strength (OR = 2.76, 95% CI = 2.14 ~3.55, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with increased CLDs prevalence. In the longitudinal analysis, probable RS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.26 ~1.77, P < 0.001), low ASM mass (HR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.25 ~1.73, P < 0.001), and low respiratory muscle strength (HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.09 ~1.57, P = 0.004) were associated with increased CLDs incidence.Probable RS significantly influences the prevalence and development of CLDs among middle-aged and older adults. Early identification and targeted interventions to mitigate RS may reduce CLDs burden in this population.
Keywords: CHARLS, Chronic lung diseases, Longitudinal investigations, older adults, Respiratory sarcopenia
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Chen, Chen and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Laichao Xu, Shaoxing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shaoxing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.