Clinical phenotype of abdominal obesity and dynapen ia: Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil)

This study aims to examine the prevalence of abdominal obesity-dynapenia phenotype, identified by the presence of abdominal obesity and dynapenia, and understand its associated factors with a representative sample of the Brazilian population. Data were collected from the baseline of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSIBrasil) 2015-2016. Abdominal obesity was determined by a waist-to-height ratio >= 0.55cm, while dynapenia was identified by evidence of low hand- grip strength assessed via dynamometry, according to cutoff points proposed for the Brazilian population. The dependent variable was the coexistence of both conditions (abdominal obesity and dynapenia), and its association with independent variables (sociodemographic characteristics, behavior and health conditions, chronic diseases, and place of residence by Brazilian region) was analyzed using Poisson regression to obtain crude and adjusted prevalence ratios by sex, age, and education level. The prevalence of isolated abdominal obesity was 57.8%, isolated dynapenia was 5.7%, and abdominal obesity-dynapenia was 12.3%. In the adjusted model, significant associations were found with smoking (0.7; 95%CI: 0.5-0.9), alcohol consumption (0.7; 95%CI: 0.5-0.9), physical activity (0.6; 95%CI: 0.5-0.8), poor self-rated health (1.7; 95%CI: 1.4-2.2), multimorbidity (1.3; 95%CI: 1.11.6), and regions of residence. These factors indicate key points for the development of prevention and treatment strategies for abdominal obesity associated with low muscle strength, and we suggest that methodologies discussed here for abdominal obesity diagnosis be used as a reliable and practical means to identify this condition in older adults.