Association between the non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and sarcopenia: evidence from CHARLS

BackgroundRecent studies have highlighted an association between lipid disorders and sarcopenia. The role of the non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) has not been explored among Chinese adults. This study aimed to investigate the association between the NHHR and incident sarcopenia in the Chinese population.Methods: The study included a total of 4046 participants aged 50 years and older without a history of sarcopenia, from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A multivariate logistic regression model and a restricted cubic spline model were used to investigate the association between NHHR and sarcopenia. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the findings.Results: A total of 309 (7.6%) participants were newly diagnosed with sarcopenia in the 2015 wave. Participants in the highest NHHR quartile (≥3.99) had a significantly lower adjusted odds ratio for sarcopenia (OR=0.40; 95% CI, 0.280.58; p<0.001) compared with those in the lowest quartile (<2.24). Restricted cubic spline analysis revealed a nonlinear relationship between NHHR and sarcopenia risk (p for nonlinearity <0.05). In piecewise regression models, the adjusted OR for sarcopenia was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.550.78; p<0.001) among participants with NHHR <4.4, whereas no significant correlation was observed among those with NHHR ≥ 4.4. No significant interactions were found between NHHR and age, sex, hypertension, or diabetes in stratified analysis (p for interaction >0.05).Conclusions: There is an inverse relationship between NHHR and sarcopenia risk in the Chinese population. A higher NHHR is associated with a lower risk of sarcopenia below the inflection point, beyond which NHHR is no longer significantly associated with sarcopenia risk.Keywords: NHHR, sarcopenia, lipid metabolism, dyslipidemia