Background
The reduction of female sex hormones causes changes in the contractile properties of muscles as well as infiltration of fat in the muscle tissue. This
Conclusions
All anthropometric indices, except VAI, showed adequate accuracy in identifying low muscle mass in women, especially those that took into account WC. This suggests that they can become accessible and also be cost-effective strategies for assessing and managing health outcomes related to muscle mass analysis.
Methods
Cross-sectional analytical study carried out in the Northeast of Brazil. The sample was formed by 593 women between 40-80 years old. Data collection included anthropometric assessment (BMI: Body Mass Index - WC: Waist Circumference - WHR: Waist-to-hip Ratio - WHtR: Waist-to-height Ratio - CI: Conicity Index - BAI: Body Adiposity Index - VAI: Visceral Adiposity Index - LAP: Lipid Accumulation Product), bioimpedance test and biochemical dosage. Moreover, sociodemographic data and practice of physical activity were collected. Descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, ROC curves, chi-squared and logistic regression were performed.
Results
The participants had a mean age of 53.11 (8.89) years, BMI of 28.49 (5.17) kg/m2 and WC of 95.35 (10.39). The prevalence of low muscle mass was 19.4%. Based on sensitivity and specificity of adiposity anthropometric indices, cutoff points were developed to identify the presence of low muscle mass (p < 0.05), except for VAI. After logistic regression, WC (OR = 6.2; CI 95%: 1.4-28.1), WHR (OR = 1.8; CI: 1.0-3.4), WHtR (OR = 5.0; CI 95%: 1.0-23.7) and BAI (OR = 14.5; CI 95%: 6.6-31.7) were associated with low muscle mass. Conclusions: All anthropometric indices, except VAI, showed adequate accuracy in identifying low muscle mass in women, especially those that took into account WC. This suggests that they can become accessible and also be cost-effective strategies for assessing and managing health outcomes related to muscle mass analysis.