Comprehensive evaluation of appendicular lean mass and sarcopenia on human health: evidence from the NHANES program.

ALM exhibited L-shaped (nonlinear) relationships with hyperuricemia and malignancy.

• Data were drawn from 11 survey cycles of NHANES (1999-2020) encompassing 46,733 participants.
• Smooth curve fitting and threshold effect models were used to identify nonlinear associations.
• The L-shaped relationship suggests a threshold beyond which further increases in ALM do not confer additional benefit or risk for these outcomes.

ALM was inversely correlated with asthma, COPD, rheumatoid arthritis, nephrolithiasis, and depression.

• Multiple regression methods were used for association analyses.
• Disease status was obtained from questionnaire surveys within the NHANES program.
• These inverse associations indicate that higher appendicular lean mass is associated with lower prevalence of each of these conditions.

ALM was inversely associated with cancer-cause mortality.

• Mortality information was derived from the National Death Index (NDI).
• The study included data from 11 NHANES survey cycles (1999-2020).
• Higher ALM was associated with lower cancer-cause mortality across the study population.

ALM demonstrated a positive correlation with bone mineral density (BMD).

• Metabolism-related indices including BMD were obtained from examination data within NHANES.
• This positive association indicates that greater appendicular lean mass corresponds to higher bone mineral density.
• The association was identified using multiple regression methods.

ALM demonstrated protective saturating effects against osteoarthritis, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular-cause mortality.

• Smooth curve fitting and threshold effect models identified a saturating (plateauing) protective relationship.
• This pattern suggests a threshold level of ALM beyond which additional muscle mass does not provide further protection against these outcomes.
• Cardiovascular-cause and all-cause mortality data were obtained from the National Death Index.

Sarcopenia was significantly inversely associated with bone mineral density.

• Sarcopenia status was assessed within the NHANES examination framework.
• The inverse association indicates that individuals with sarcopenia have lower BMD compared to those without sarcopenia.
• Multiple regression methods were used for this analysis.

Sarcopenia was positively associated with COPD, asthma, osteoarthritis, depression, and all-cause mortality.

• Positive correlations were identified between sarcopenia and each of these five health outcomes.
• Disease status was obtained from questionnaire surveys and mortality from the National Death Index.
• The study population encompassed 46,733 participants from 11 NHANES survey cycles (1999-2020).