Relationship Between Sarcopenia and Albuminuria: The 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Studies have shown that albuminuria, obesity, and sarcopenia may share pathophysiological processes related to cardiovascular disease risk. Their direct relationships, however, have not been examined. This study investigated the association between albuminuria and sarcopenia in a representative fraction of the Korean population. Of the 10,589 people who participated in the 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2158 participants aged over 19 years had been tested for albumin-to-creatinine ratio and for body composition data using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Albuminuria was defined as an albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g. Sarcopenia was defined as a skeletal muscle index (SMI) (SMI (%) = total appendicular skeletal muscle mass [kg]/weight [kg] × 100) of less than 1 standard deviation (SD) (grade 1) or 2 SD (grade 2) below the sex-specific mean for a younger reference group. The prevalence of albuminuria was higher in those with grade 2 sarcopenia than in those with a normal SMI or grade 1 sarcopenia (33.3% versus 8.4% and 8.9%; P < 0.001). Conversely, grade 2 sarcopenia was also more prevalent in participants with albuminuria than in those with the upper tertile of normoalbuminuria. In addition, multiple logistic regression analysis showed the odds ratio for albuminuria risk in the grade 2 sarcopenia group was 2.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46–5.88), compared with normal SMI after adjusting for potential confounding factors, including the presence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Moreover, individuals with albuminuria had an odds ratio of 3.39 (95% [confidence interval], 1.38–8.37) for grade 2 sarcopenia compared with those in the lowest tertile of normoalbuminuria. This is the first study to demonstrate that individuals with sarcopenia exhibited increased risk of albuminuria and vice versa.