Objective  To explore the relationship between sarcopenic obesity (SO) and chronic lung disease in middle-aged and elderly people.

Methods  Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), four surveys were selected in 2011, 2015, 2018, and 2020, and middle-aged and elderly people aged ≥45 years at the time of the baseline survey were included as study subjects. The relationship between SO and the risk of developing chronic lung disease was analyzed by Cox proportional risk regression model.

Results  A total of 8,720 study subjects were included, and a total of 1,053 (12.08%) developed new chronic lung disease during the 9-year follow-up period, with the prevalence of chronic lung disease in the normal, sarcopenia-only, obesity-only, and SO groups being 10.84%, 13.55%, 9.96%, and 18.47%, respectively. Compared with the normal group, the risk of chronic lung disease was increased by 17%[HR=1.17, 95%CI(1.01, 1.34)] and 86%[HR=1.86, 95%CI(1.41, 2.46)] in the sarcopenia-only group and SO group, respectively.

Conclusion  SO significantly increased the risk of chronic lung disease in middle-aged and older adults, suggesting that middle-aged and older adults should increase exercise and maintain a healthy weight to improve their standard of living.

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