Factors Associated With Sarcopenia Screened by Finger-Circle Test Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Population-Based Multisite Cross-Sectional Survey in Japan
Abstract Background: Prior epidemiological studies have demonstrated the prevalence and the relationship of various factors associated with sarcopenia in older adults; however, few have examined sarcopenia status in middle-aged adults. In the present study, we aimed: 1) to evaluate the validity of the finger-circle test, which is potentially a useful screening tool, for assessing sarcopenia, and 2) to determine the prevalence and factors associated with sarcopenia in middle-aged and older adults.Methods: We conducted a face-to-face survey with 525 adults aged 40−91 years residing in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan to evaluate the validity of finger-circle test. The finger-circle test was evaluated calf circumference by referring to an illustration printed on the survey form. To assess sarcopenia, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) was plotted to evaluate the validity of the finger-circle test compared to sarcopenia evaluation by skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) measured using bioimpedance. We also conducted a multisite population-based cross-sectional anonymous mail surveys of 9337 adults aged 40−97 years residing in Settsu and Hannan Cities, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Participants were selected through stratified random sampling by sex and age group, in the elementary school zones of their respective cities. We performed multiple logistic regression analysis to explore associations between characteristics and prevalence of sarcopenia.Results: Sarcopenia, defined by SMI, was moderately predicted by a finger-circle test response showing that the subject’s calf was smaller than their finger-circle (AUROC: 0.729, <65 years; 0.653, ≥65 years); such subjects were considered to have sarcopenia. In mail surveys, prevalence of sarcopenia was higher in older subjects (approximately 16%) than in middle-aged subjects (approximately 8−9%). In a multiple regression model, the factors associated with sarcopenia were age, body mass index, smoking status, self-reported health, and number of meals in all the participants.Conclusions: Sarcopenia, screened by the finger-circle test, was present not only among older adults but also among middle-aged adults. These results suggest the importance of providing middle-aged and older adults with the opportunity to individually perform a test that could enable them to identify sarcopenia.Trial registration: UMIN000008105, registered prospectively May 29, 2019, https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000042027