Description

Sarcopenia is an age related, progressive, and generalized skeletal muscle disorder involving the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function and physical performance below a defined threshold1. It is associated with increased adverse outcomes including increased risk falls, physical frailty, prolonged hospitalization, dependency, physical disability and impairment, limitation of mobility, decreased quality of life and increased mortality. Sarcopenia is known to be more prevalent in older populations, but the decline in muscle mass starts from ~40 years onwards2.

Sarcopenia not only affects the ability to lead an active lifestyle but also contributes to increased obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) reduced quality of life, osteoporosis, and metabolic health1.

Hand grip strength (HGS) is considered as an important value when diagnosing sarcopenia. Lower muscle strength using HGS is mandatory to diagnose sarcopenia. EWGSOP group recommends that the mean reference cut-off value of hand grip is < 30 kg in men and < 20 kg in women.

There is evidence that strength could be an important risk factor for diabetes. Low hand-grip strength has been predictive of incident diabetes in prospective cohort studies3. Lower grip strength was associated with higher prevalence of diabetes, independent of confounding factors, across all ethnicities in both men and women. Diabetes prevalence was approximately three- to fourfold higher in South Asian participants across all levels of grip strength3 .

However, there are no studies in India assessing sarcopenia in type 2 diabetic patients.