Obesity paradox in older sarcopenic adults ― a delay in aging: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The prognostic significance of obesity in sarcopenic adults is controversial. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effect of additional obesity on health outcomes in sarcopenia. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus and CENTRAL were systematically searched for studies to compare health outcomes of adults with sarcopenic obesity (SO) to those of sarcopenic non-obese (SNO) adults. We also considered the methods of assessing obesity. Of 15060 records screened, 65 papers were included (100612 participants). Older community-dwelling SO adults had 15% lower mortality risk than the SNO group (hazard ratio, HR: 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.76, 0.94) even when obesity was assessed by measurement of body composition. Additionally, meta-regression analysis revealed a significant negative linear correlation between the age and the HR of all-cause mortality in SO vs. SNO community-dwelling adults, but not in severely ill patients. Compared with SNO, SO patients presented lower physical performance, higher risk for metabolic syndrome, but similar cognitive function, risk of falls and cardiovascular diseases. Age-related obesity, SO and later fat loss leading to SNO represent consecutive phases of biological aging. Additional obesity could worsen the health state in sarcopenia, but above 65 years SO represents a biologically earlier phase with longer life expectancy than SNO.