A body shape index and sarcopenia risk in middle-aged and older adults: evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study
Haibin Shang, Zhen Deng, Youzhi Lian, Youli Ai, Guozhong Li · 2025
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Description
A simple body shape index, built from waist size, height, and weight, may help flag older adults at risk of sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength. Shang and co-authors drew on a national Chinese survey of aging, taking 1,873 people aged forty-five and up with complete data from 2015. They diagnosed the condition by standard Asian guidelines, combining muscle mass with grip strength and physical performance.
About 17.6 percent of the sample had sarcopenia, and their shape index ran clearly higher than that of the rest. The link held across three levels of statistical adjustment, and the index ranked first in importance in a machine learning check. A model using the index alone discriminated fairly, and the fully adjusted model did better still. The authors suggest the cheap, tape-measure index could help screen for muscle loss where lab tests are scarce.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Haibin Shang, Zhen Deng, Youzhi Lian, Youli Ai, Guozhong Li |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 74 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |