Background: Sarcopenia, an age-related decline in skeletal muscle mass, leads to metabolic and vascular abnormalities. However, little is known regarding the independent relationship between skeletal muscle mass and atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of skeletal muscle mass with markers of carotid atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and carotid artery plaque, in men and women with T2DM.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 8,918 patients (4,520 men and 4,398 women) with T2DM were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Huh’s Diabetes Center from 2003 to 2016. Skeletal muscle mass was estimated from bioimpedance analysis measurements and skeletal muscle mass index (SMI, %) was defined as skeletal muscle mass (kg)/total body weight (kg) × 100. Carotid ultrasonography was performed to measure mean CIMT of both common carotid arteries. Carotid artery plaque was defined as a focal structure protruding into the lumen of the vessel of ≥50% than the surrounding area.

Results: In both men and women, the presence of carotid artery plaque was higher with decreasing SMI quartiles. In men, this association remained significant after adjustment for additional risk factors (ptrend <0.001). Odds ratio for having carotid artery plaque was 1.76 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34-2.33; p <0.001) in men with lowest SMI quartile compared with highest quartile. However, in women, the association was attenuated after adjustment for additional risk factors. There was no significant association between SMI quartiles and CIMT in both men and women.

Conclusion: Low muscle mass is associated with the presence of carotid artery plaque in men with T2DM.


M. Nam: None. D. Seo: None. M. Jung: None. S. Ahn: None. S. Hong: None. Y. Lee: None. Y. Choi: None. B. Huh: None. K. Huh: None. S. Kim: None.


National Research Foundation of Korea (2017R1D-1A1B03034581)
