Introduction: Recent studies suggested that sarcopenia may be a significant comorbidity of diabetes mellitus (DM). Nonetheless, studies with nationally representative data are scarce, and the changing trend of sarcopenia prevalence over time is largely unknown. Therefore, we aimed to estimate and compare the prevalence of sarcopenia in diabetic and non-diabetic United States (US) older population, and to explore the potential predictors of sarcopenia as well as the trend of sarcopenia prevalent in the past decades. Methods: Data was retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Sarcopenia and DM were defined according to corresponding diagnosis criteria. Weighted prevalence was calculated and compared between diabetic and non-diabetic participants. The differences among age and ethnicity groups were explored. Results: A total of 6381 US adults (>50 years) were involved. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 17.8% for US elders, and the prevalence was higher (27.9% vs. 15.7%) in those with diabetes ones than those without. Stepwise regression revealed that sarcopenia was significantly associated with DM (Adjusted odds ratio=1.37, 95%CI: 1.08-1.22; P<0.05) after controlling for potential confounders including gender, age, ethnicity, educational level, BMI and muscle strengthening activity. A slightly fluctuate but overall increasing trend of sarcopenia prevalence was observed among diabetic elders while no obvious changing trend was observed in their counterparts in recent decades. Conclusion: Diabetic US older adults face significantly higher risk of sarcopenia when compared with their non-diabetic counterparts. Gender, age, ethnicity, educational level and obesity were important influencing factors of sarcopenia development.

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Background and objective The health impacts of combined aerobic and resistance training on older populations are largely unknown. Therefore, we carried out the current study to systematically investigate the effects of combined exercise on body composition and physical functions of elders. Methodology Literature was searched from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria were: 1) healthy participants aged 55 years and above; 2) effects of combined exercise (aerobic combined with resistance training) examined; 3) effects on fat mass and lean mass reported. Research quality of the included studies was assessed by PEDro scale. Results Among the involved 11 studies, 9 out of 11 found that combined exercise increased the amount of lean mass of the elders (0.3–7.4%), while the other 2 reported a decline (3.0% and 3.4%). As for fat mass, all the included studies found that combined exercise decreased the total fat mass (2.19–16.5%) or local fat mass (0.7–40.7%). Furthermore, 5 out of the 11 studies examined the impact of combined training on muscle strength and aerobic power, and exercise was found to increase the lower limb strength (knee flexion: 15.1–15.9%; knee extension: 11.6–16.9%; and leg press 1 RM: 17.6–54.3%). Moreover, 5 studies assessed and reported that combined exercise was associated with an increased VO2peak (1.0–145.6%). Conclusions This systematic review revealed that a 8–52 weeks’ combined exercise, such as cycling combined with weight-lifting machines training, was beneficial in a decrease in whole-body and localized fat mass, and increase in the amount of body lean mass among older populations. Combined exercise was also shown to be more effective in increasing lower extremity strength and VO2peak compared with aerobic or resistance ones solely.