Low creatinine levels in diabetes mellitus among older individuals: the Yuport Medical Checkup Center Study

ORIC ID: 0000-0002-3401-8191. It is unknown whether the interrelationship between diabetes and muscle loss is affected by ageing. Therefore, the serum creatinine levels, an indicator of muscle mass, were compared between older people with diabetes and those without diabetes, using a cross-sectional dataset from the Yuport Medical Checkup Center Study. We classified 6133 participants without kidney dysfunction into three age-groups: early-elderly (65–69 years), middle-elderly (70–74 years), and late-elderly (≥ 75 years). The association between diabetes and the lowest creatinine level, defined as less than or equal to the 25 percentile of serum creatinine, was evaluated in each age group, by calculating the odds ratio (OR) using logistic regression. Serum creatinine levels increased with ageing in the participants, and these trends were markedly observed in the non-diabetic group. Late-elderly people with diabetes were significantly more likely to have low creatinine levels than those without diabetes, with adjusted ORs 2.50 (95% CI 1.99–4.50) in men and 2.88 (95% CI 1.47–5.64) in women. Ageing modified the effect of their diabetes status towards a lower creatinine level (p for interactions between the diabetic status and age-groups were 0.01 in men and 0.05 in women, respectively). Ageing may thus accelerate the loss of muscle mass in people with diabetes.