Abstract
BACKGROUND: Chemerin, an adipokine involved in adipogenesis and lipid metabolism, has been linked to various metabolic disorders. Given that metabolic dysregulation contributes to deterioration of muscle health and subsequent functional impairment, this investigation aimed to assess the utility of circulating chemerin levels as an indicator for the risk of muscle health decline among the elderly population. METHODS: Individuals aged 65 years and older dwelling in the community underwent routine health check-ups were recruited. Anthropometric parameters, habitual gait speed, and handgrip strength were measured. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay was used for examining serum chemerin levels. Based on muscle mass and functional parameters, participants were classified as robust, presarcopenia, dynapenia, and sarcopenia. We applied logistic regression to evaluate the risks between specific muscle health conditions and serum chemerin levels. A quartile-based analysis was performed to assess trends in muscle health risk across varying serum chemerin levels. RESULTS: The study included 433 participants, of whom 45.03% were male. The prevalence of dynapenia (25.40%) exceeded that of sarcopenia (17.09%). The concentrations of chemerin were higher in participants with dynapenia than in those with sarcopenia. Multivariate logistic regression disclosed a positive association between elevated serum chemerin levels and an increased risk of dynapenia (odds ratio = 1.012, 95% confidence interval = 1.002–1.021, p = 0.015). The quartile-based analysis further confirmed a dose-response relationship between chemerin levels and risk of dynapenia; the association continued to be significant after confounding variables adjustment (p for trend = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Higher serum chemerin levels were associated with greater risk of dynapenia in community-residing older people.