Larger skeletal muscle mass tied to lower risk for type 2 diabetes in women: Study

Based on the study, the researchers reported the following findings:

· During the follow-up period, 5.32% of men and 2.14% of women developed type 2 diabetes.

· Among all women, a higher pSMI was associated with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio [HR], 0.79).

· Among men with lower muscular mass (pSMI ≤8.1), a higher pSMI was associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes (HR, 0.58). This association did not persist among men with higher muscular mass.

· In the subgroup analysis, higher pSMI (8.1 for men and 6.9 for women) was associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes among individuals aged 50 years or older. Higher pSMI was consistently associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes among men (HR, 0.79) and women (HR, 0.76) under 50 years of age. There was no significant interaction between pSMI and age.

"Our findings suggest that a greater muscular mass is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in both men with diminished muscle mass and all women," the researchers concluded.

Study limitations include the pSMI being a surrogate rather than a direct measure of muscle mass, data on factors related to muscular mass such as dietary patterns and physical activity being unavailable, and a lack of data on body fat distribution and fat mass.

Reference:

Liu D, Li N, Zhou Y, et al. Sex-specific associations between skeletal muscle mass and incident diabetes: a population-based cohort study. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published online November 23, 2023. doi:10.1111/dom.15373