ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2014
Body mass index from age 15 years onwards and muscle mass, strength, and quality in early old age: findings from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04734951 (Effect of a Power/Resistance Exercise Program and Oral Supplementation With Beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl Butyrate), which is not on this map. Cited by 44 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effect of a Power/Resistance Exercise Program and Oral Supplementation With Beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl Butyrate (HMB) on the Muscle Quality Index in Older Adults. A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-term neurological and cognitive impact of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis in over 4 million patients.BMC neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Muscular Fitness and Cardiometabolic Variables in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Pooled it
- Socioeconomic position and body composition in childhood in high- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Pooled it
- Temporal Trends in the Handgrip Strength of 2,592,714 Adults from 14 Countries Between 1960 and 2017: A Systematic Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Pooled it
- Age at Onset of Walking in Infancy Is Associated With Hip Shape in Early Old Age.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2019Trial
- Physical Activity Across Adulthood and Bone Health in Later Life: The 1946 British Birth Cohort.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2019Trial
- How Are We Matching in ACL Reconstruction Research? A Systematic Review of Methods, Reporting, and Covariate Selection.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- Longitudinal impact of sarcopenia and its components on falls, fractures, and mortality in rheumatoid arthritis: a six-year study.BMC rheumatology · 2025Article
- Associations between muscle quality index and cardiac function in older adults with sarcopenia and obesity.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Are we giving too much weight to lean mass loss?Molecular metabolism · 2025Review
- Recent Articles-Skeletal Muscle and Other Topics in Diabetes.Journal of diabetes · 2025Article
- Grip strength: are some adiposity phenotypes more detrimental than others? A Mendelian randomization study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Observational
- Diet quality from mid-life and body composition in older age: findings from a British birth cohort.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Comparison of the utility of SARC-F, SARC-CalF, and calf circumference as screening tools for sarcopenia in patients with osteoporosis.PloS one · 2024Article
- Chronic inflammation does not mediate the effect of adiposity on grip strength: results from a multivariable Mendelian randomization study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Relation between adipose tissue and the musculoskeletal unit in a group of postmenopausal women.Przeglad menopauzalny = Menopause review · 2022Article
- Being Overweight Is Related to Neoaortic Sinus Dilatation After Arterial Switch Operation.Texas Heart Institute journal · 2022Article
- Lifetime body mass index and grip strength at age 46 years: the 1970 British Cohort Study.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2022Article
- Adiposity and grip strength: a Mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank.BMC medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs more people live more of their lives obese, it is unclear what impact this will have on muscle mass, strength, and quality. We aimed to examine the associations of body mass index (BMI) from age 15 years onwards with low muscle mass, strength, and quality in early old age.
methodsA total of 1,511 men and women from a British birth cohort study with BMI measured at 15, 20, 26, 36, 43, 53, and 60-64 years and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans at 60-64 years were included. Four binary outcomes identified those in the bottom sex-specific 20% of (a) appendicular lean mass (ALM) index (kilogram per square meter), (b) ALM residuals (derived from sex-specific models in which ALM (kilogram) = β0 + β1 height [meter] + β2 fat mass [kilogram]), (c) grip strength (kilogram), (d) muscle quality (grip strength [kilogram]/arm lean mass [kilogram]). Associations of BMI with each outcome were tested.
resultsHigher BMI from age 15 years was associated with lower odds of low ALM but higher odds of low muscle quality (per 1 SD increase in BMI at 36 years, odds ratio of low ALM residuals = 0.50 [95% CI: 0.43, 0.59], and muscle quality = 1.50 [1.29, 1.75]). Greater gains in BMI were associated with lower odds of low ALM index but higher odds of low muscle quality. BMI was not associated with grip strength.
conclusionsGiven increases in the global prevalence of obesity, cross-cohort comparisons of sarcopenia need to consider our findings that greater gains in BMI are associated with higher muscle mass but not with grip strength and therefore with lower muscle quality.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.