AUTHOR=Hu Fengjuan , Zhang Gongchang , Xu Zhigang , Zuo Zhiliang , Huang Ning , Ge Meiling , Liu Xiaolei , Dong Birong 

TITLE=The diagnostic agreement of sarcopenic obesity with different definitions in Chinese community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1356878

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1356878

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN)  and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) launched a consensus of sarcopenic obesity (SO) diagnostic methods in 2022. Our study aimed to identify the prevalence and diagnostic agreement of SO using different diagnostic methods in a cohort of subjects aged at least 50 years old in west China. Methods A large multi-ethnic sample of 4155 participants from West China Health and Aging Trend (WCHAT) study was analyzed. SO was defined by the newly published consensus of the ESPEN/EASO. Besides, SO was also diagnosed as the combination of sarcopenia and obesity. The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria (AWGS2019) was used to define sarcopenia. Obesity was defined by four widely used indicators: percent of body fat (PBF), visceral fat area (VFA), waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI). Cohen's kappa was used to analyze the diagnostic agreement of the above five diagnostic methods.A total of 4155 participants were included, including 1499 men (63.76 ± 8.23 years) and 2656 women (61.61 ± 8.20 years). The prevalence of SO was 0.63 -7.22% with different diagnostic methods. The diagnosis agreement of five diagnostic criteria was poor-to-good (κ: 0.06 -0.67). Consensus by the ESPEN/EASO had the poorest agreement with other methods (κ: 0.06 -0.32). AWGS combined with VFA had the best 4 agreement with AWGS+WC (κ = 0.67), and consensus by the ESPEN/EASO had the best agreement with AWGS+ PBF (κ = 0.32).The prevalence and diagnostic agreement of SO vary considerably between different diagnostic methods. AWGS+WC has the highest diagnostic rate in diagnosis of SO, whereas AWGS+BMI has the lowest. AWGS+VFA has a relatively good diagnostic agreement with other diagnostic methods, while consensus of the ESPEN/EASO has a poor diagnostic agreement. AWGS+PBF may be suitable for the alternative diagnosis of 2022 ESPEN/EASO.