Association between leukocyte count and sarcopenia in postmenopausal women: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective To investigate the association between leukocyte counts and sarcopenia according in postmenopausal women. Study design Cross-sectional study. Main outcome and measures We examined the relationship between leukocyte counts and sarcopenia in 2152 post-menopausal Korean women who participated in the 2010-2011 Korean National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey. Sarcopenia was defined as an appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) divided by weight (%) that was greater than 1 SD below the mean of young adults. The odds ratios (ORs) for sarcopenia were calculated using multiple logistic regression across leukocyte count quartiles (Q1:≤4710, Q2:4720-5600, Q3:5610-6600, and Q4:≥6610 cells/μL) after adjusting for confounding variables. Results The prevalence of sarcopenia gradually increased in accordance with leukocyte quartiles. Compared with the lowest quartile of leukocyte counts, the corresponding OR (95% CI) of the highest quartile of leukocyte counts for sarcopenia was 2.41 (1.12-5.22) after adjusting for age, waist circumference, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, regular exercise, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, triglyceride, and HDL-cholesterol. Conclusions Leukocyte counts were positively related to a higher risk of sarcopenia in postmenopausal women.