ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Muscle Health: From Technical and Clinical Research to PracticeView all 7 articles
Ultrasonographic Assessment of Thenar Muscles for Diagnosing Sarcopenic Obesity in Patients with Schizophrenia
Provisionally accepted
- 1North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
- 2Zigong Fifth People's Hospital, Zigong, China
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Background: Patients with schizophrenia have a high prevalence of sarcopenic obesity (SO) (19.2%), largely due to antipsychotic use and sedentary lifestyle. Conventional diagnostic techniques (e.g., dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry [DXA]) are limited by their cost and complexity. Objective: To evaluate thenar muscle ultrasound (thickness and echo intensity) combined with sex for SO screening and its association with pneumonia and falls. Methods: A total of 490 patients with stable schizophrenia underwent bilateral thenar ultrasonography. SO was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 criteria (muscle mass, grip strength, gait speed) and the Japanese obesity consensus (body fat ≥20% in males, ≥30% in females, or visceral fat ≥100 cm²). Diagnostic efficacy (ROC analysis) and adverse outcomes were assessed. Results: Patients with SO (n=94) had significantly reduced thenar muscle thickness (left: 13.81 vs. 14.75 mm, p<0.001; right: 14.83 vs. 15.96 mm, p<0.001) and higher echo intensity (left: 39.57 vs. 35.66, p=0.002; right: 38.52 vs. 34.51, p<0.001) compared with patients without SO (n=396). A model combining right thenar thickness, echo intensity, and gender achieved the best diagnostic performance (AUC=0.805, sensitivity=73.2%, specificity=76.3%). SO was significantly associated with increased fall risk (adjusted OR=2.889, p=0.002) and pneumonia (unadjusted OR=2.175, p=0.038). Conclusion: Thenar ultrasound combined with sex provides an efficient tool for SO screening (AUC>0.8) in patients with schizophrenia, supporting early intervention to reduce adverse outcomes.
Keywords: sarcopenic obesity, Schizophrenia, Ultrasonic diagnosis, Adverse outcome, thenar muscles
Received: 04 Sep 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yan, Ding, Chen, Tan, Lin, Li, Chen and Xiang. 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:
Xiaoyan Chen, 379531722@qq.com
Youguo Tan, 13890055456@163.com
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