AUTHOR=Sun Changbo , Jiang Honggang , Zhu Hongmei , Luo Zhen , Wang Shiyi 

TITLE=Association between the non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and sarcopenia: evidence from CHARLS

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1585986

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2025.1585986

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=BackgroundRecent studies have highlighted an association between lipid disorders and sarcopenia. The role of the non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) has not been explored among Chinese adults. This study aimed to investigate the association between the NHHR and incident sarcopenia in the Chinese population.MethodsThe study included a total of 4,046 participants aged 50 years and older without a history of sarcopenia, from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A multivariate logistic regression model and a restricted cubic spline model were used to investigate the association between NHHR and sarcopenia. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the findings.ResultsA total of 309 (7.6%) participants were newly diagnosed with sarcopenia in the 2015 wave. Participants in the highest NHHR quartile (≥3.99) had a significantly lower adjusted odds ratio for sarcopenia (OR = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.280.58; p < 0.001) compared with those in the lowest quartile (<2.24). Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a nonlinear relationship between NHHR and sarcopenia risk (p for nonlinearity <0.05). In piecewise regression models, the adjusted OR for sarcopenia was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.550.78, p < 0.001) among participants with NHHR <4.4, whereas no significant correlation was observed among those with NHHR ≥ 4.4. No significant interactions were found between NHHR and age, sex, hypertension, or diabetes in stratified analysis (p for interaction >0.05).ConclusionThere is an inverse relationship between NHHR and sarcopenia risk in the Chinese population. A higher NHHR is associated with a lower risk of sarcopenia below the inflection point, beyond which NHHR is no longer significantly associated with sarcopenia risk.