High muscle mass tied to lower CVD mortality risk
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Higher muscle mass was associated with lower CVD and mortality in men and women, but in women, high fat, regardless of muscle mass level, was linked to lower CVD mortality risk, researchers reported.
According to the researchers, the findings emphasize the importance of muscle mass in healthy men and women for CVD risk prevention and suggest sex differences regarding the CVD risk associated with fat mass.
“We were trying to understand reasons for the sex differences in CVD, and following from our previous findings of a protective effect of muscle mass in patients with cardiovascular disease, we wanted to test the level congruity of this finding between sexes,” Preethi Srikanthan, MD, MS, professor of medicine (endocrinology) at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Healio.
Body composition phenotypes
In the cohort of 11,463 individuals older than 20 years (5,627 women), there were significant differences between demographic features in the four body composition phenotypes — high muscle mass/high fat mass, high muscle mass/low fat mass, low muscle mass/high fat mass and low muscle mass/low fat mass — by age. Individuals younger than 50 years were more likely to be in one of the high muscle mass groups, whereas individuals aged 65 years or older were more likely to be in the low muscle/high fat group. There was a predominance of non-Hispanic Black individuals in the high muscle groups, the researchers wrote.
More than 10% of individuals with high fat mass — regardless of muscle mass level — had a diagnosis of diabetes, according to the researchers.
In women, compared with the low muscle mass/low fat mass group, those with high muscle mass and high fat mass (adjusted HR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.39-0.86; P = .01) had lower risk for CVD mortality, but those with high muscle mass and low fat mass did not, according to the researchers.
In men, compared with the low muscle mass/low fat mass group, the high muscle mass/low fat mass group had reduced risk for CVD mortality (aHR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.21-0.77; P = .01) and the high muscle mass/high fat mass group had a trend toward lower CVD mortality risk (aHR = 0.74; 95% CI, 0.53-1.04; P = .08), the researchers wrote.
“Muscle is an important organ for glucose disposal, and thus, from our early studies, we have noted its importance in improving metabolic status. Further, with our findings that higher muscle mass protects against total and cardiovascular mortality in individuals with heart disease, we were sure this finding would translate into healthy individuals,” Srikanthan told Healio.
Protection against CVD
Srikanthan noted that in women, having higher total fat mass and higher muscle mass offered significant protection against CVD, even when traditional hormonal and metabolic risk factors were taken in to account.
“This finding represents an important extension of our previous work on muscle mass and mortality,” she said in an interview. “It highlights the importance of recognizing that sexual differences exist with respect to the most favorable body composition to potentially decrease cardiovascular mortality in women.”
According to Srikanthan, the findings underscore the importance of public health messages to increase activity and improve muscle mass rather than focus on weight loss.
For more information:
Preethi Srikanthan, MD, MS, can be reached at psrikanthan@mednet.ucla.edu.
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