Association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular disease according to menopausal status: findings from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

Bibliographic Details
Title: Association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular disease according to menopausal status: findings from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)
Authors: Xiangdi Dai, Siqi He, Yuxiang Wu, Jie Zhuang, Guodong Xu
Source: BMC Public Health, Vol 25, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2025)
Publisher Information: BMC, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: LCC:Public aspects of medicine
Subject Terms: CHARLS, Menopausal, Sarcopenia, Cardiovascular disease, Public aspects of medicine, RA1-1270
More Details: Abstract Background Little is known about the association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular disease (CVD) according to menopausal status, and we conducted cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses Using nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to investigate the association between sarcopenia and CVD in Chinese women according to menopausal status. Method The study sample included 5365 (mean age 60.3 ± 9.3 years) female participants from CHARLS 2015 (wave 3). Additionally, 3,882 participants without cardiovascular disease (CVD) were recruited in CHARLS 2015 (Wave 3) and followed up in 2018 (Wave 4). CVD was defined as the presence of physician-diagnosed heart disease and/or stroke. Menopausal status was determined based on self-reported information from questionnaires. Sarcopenia status was assessed using the diagnostic criteria established by the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia in 2019 (AWGS 2019). Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the association between sarcopenia and CVD in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Further analyses examined the interaction between sarcopenia and menopausal status to better understand its impact on CVD. Results The prevalence of CVD in the total population is 22.5% (1209/5365). Among premenopausal women, the prevalence in no-sarcopenia, possible sarcopenia, and sarcopenia group are 11.3% (86/759), 16.2% (17/105), and 13.9% (5/36), respectively, for postmenopausal women, the prevalence are 19.2% (320/1668), 32.6% (520/1597), and 21.8% (261/1200). Both possible sarcopenia (OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.29–1.93) and sarcopenia (OR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.05,1.72) are associated with CVD in the population of postmenopausal women. There was a significant positive interaction between menopause and sarcopenia on CVD, the RERI = 5.30 (95%CI: 4.63, 5.98), the SI = 2.44 (95%CI: 1.84, 3.63), and the multiplicative effect = 2.18 (95%CI: 1.70, 2.66). In the longitudinal analysis, 514 (13.2%) new cases of CVD were diagnosed. In premenopausal women, sarcopenia was significantly associated with the development of CVD (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.3,4.59). In postmenopausal women, possible sarcopenia (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.28, 1.65) and sarcopenia (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.23, 1.65) were more likely to have new-onset CVD than the postmenopausal no-sarcopenia women. Conclusions Sarcopenia and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk show significant variations in cross-sectional and longitudinal associations across different menopausal statuses, with higher risks in postmenopausal women. An interaction between menopausal status and sarcopenia on CVD risk was found.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1471-2458
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1471-2458
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-21933-y
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/52ce7ba89b1f4c0f98cb0bb1a60d7dd4
Accession Number: edsdoj.52ce7ba89b1f4c0f98cb0bb1a60d7dd4
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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More Details
ISSN:14712458
DOI:10.1186/s12889-025-21933-y
Published in:BMC Public Health
Language:English