Association between Sarcopenic Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Postmenopausal Women: A Cross-sectional Study Based on the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys from 2008 to 2011.
BACKGROUND
Menopause contributes to an increase in visceral fat mass and a decrease in muscle protein synthesis. Therefore, we performed this study to examine their relationship how effect the changes of body composition as obesity and sarcopenia on metabolic syndrome (MS) as a predictor of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women.


METHODS
Using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2008 to 2011, we estimated that 4,183 postmenopausal women underwent dual energy X-ray absorptiometry scans. Sarcopenia was defined as an appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by body weight that was less than 1 standard deviation below the sex specific mean for the young reference group. After classification into four groups, the results were adjusted with menopausal age and hormonal treatment. The relationship between sarcopenic obesity (SO) and MS in postmenopausal women was analyzed by logistic regression analysis in a complex sampling.


RESULTS
In an unadjusted model, the odds ratio (OR) of MS for sarcopenia was 1.94 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.52-2.49); the obesity group had an OR of 4.55 (95% CI, 3.63-5.71); and distinctly, the SO group had an OR of 6.26 (95% CI, 5.10-7.70). Even though there was controlling for variable adjustment, no definite difference was seen in the results.


CONCLUSIONS
Sarcopenia and obesity were associated with MS independent of other metabolic impairment risk factors in both early menopausal and postmenopausal women. The results showed that, in particular, the prevalence of MS has increased more in postmenopausal women compared with previous research.
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Sun-Young
SY
Kang
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Gyeong Eun
GE
Lim
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Yang Keun
YK
Kim
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Hye Won
HW
Kim
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Kayoung
K
Lee
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Tae-Jin
TJ
Park
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Jinseung
J
Kim
Menopause; Metabolic syndrome X; Sarcopenia