RESULTS
Demographic and clinical data are presented in Table 1. While 109 subjects (46.8%) had no comorbid disease; 93 (75.0%) had one, 21 (16.9%) had two, eight (6.5%) had three and two (1.6%) had four comorbid diseases. Age and waist circumference were similar between the genders (both p>0.05). While BMI and hip circumference were lower, anterior thigh muscle thickness was higher in males as compared to females (all p<0.001). The presences of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, presarcopenia and sarcopenia were similar between the genders (all p>0.05). However, the frequencies of coronary artery disease and smoking were more in males than in females (both p<0.05). Additionally, males had better grip strength and performance test (i.e. CST and gait speed) values than females (all p<0.001).
Comparisons of the clinical data regarding hypertension are given in Table 2. 28.7% of hypertensive patients (31 out of 108) and 3.2% of normotensive subjects (four out of 125) had sarcopenia (p<0.001). In middle-aged adults; the presence of diabetes mellitus and low physical performance (i.e. CST and gait speed) were more frequent in hypertensive vs. normotensive subjects (all p<0.05). In older adults; the presence of diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, low CST, presarcopenia and sarcopenia were more frequent in hypertensive vs. normotensive subjects (all p<0.01). Further, hip circumference was higher in hypertensive vs. normotensive older adults (p<0.001). Overall, although statistically insignificant (p=0.062), females were more prevalent in the hypertensive older adults.
Subgroup analysis of older adults with hypertension (N=87) revealed that sarcopenia (N=29) was less prevalent (p=0.020) in patients using ACE inhibitors (2/22 patients, 9.1%) than those using angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) (15/37 patients, 40.5%) and other antihypertensive drugs (i.e. alpha/beta blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers) (12/28 patients, 42.9%) (Fig. 2). When age, gender, BMI, and presence of smoking and aforementioned comorbid diseases were taken into binary logistic regression analyses; only the presence of hypertension seemed to independently predict the development of sarcopenia in older adults [OR=7.9 (95% CI: 2.6-24.5, p<0.001)].