Association of Dietary Patterns and Sarcopenia in the Ageing Population in Polonnaruwa District, Sri Lanka: A Cross-Sectional Study

Sarcopenia involves age-related muscle loss, posing a significant concern for older people. This study investigates the relationship between dietary patterns and sarcopenia prevalence among the ageing population in the Polonnaruwa district, Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 150 randomly selected individuals aged 65 and above. Assessments included nutritional status using the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short form, dysphagia risk with the EAT-10 tool, and physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia-2019 (AWGS) criteria, including the SARC-Calf questionnaire, handgrip strength, Skeletal Muscle Mass Index (SMI), and gait speed. Statistical analyses, including logistic regression for the outcome variable (prevalence of sarcopenia) using continuous predictors (age and BMI), and Chi-square tests for categorical predictors (nutritional status and gender), were performed with a significance threshold of 0.05. The average age of participants was 70.7 years. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 49.6%, affecting 44.6% of males and 52.9% of females. The odds of sarcopenia increased with age (OR: 1.0654, p>0.05) and decreased with higher BMI (OR: 0.7542, p<0.05). Significant associations were observed between sarcopenia and legume consumption, nutritional status, and physical activity levels (p<0.05), while no significant associations were found between sarcopenia and gender, dysphagia, smoking, drinking water, vegetarianism, meat, dairy, and alcohol consumption (p>0.05). These findings highlight that adequate nutrition, increased physical activity, and legume consumption may protect against and delay the onset of sarcopenia, suggesting targeted interventions for aging people in Polonnaruwa.