Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39948198›Full record

ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2026

Social isolation and sarcopenia: the mediating role of physical activity and the intersocietal differences from US and China.

Sicheng Li, Lingxiao He, Ya Fang

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Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

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4citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sicheng LiState Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccine and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Lingxiao HeState Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccine and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Ya FangState Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccine and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. fangya@xmu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9895-3234

Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China 2022YFC3603000
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLittle is known about the causal relationship between sarcopenia and social isolation. This study investigated the association between social isolation and sarcopenia and explored the mediating role of physical activity among American and Chinese older adults.

methodsData were from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), encompassing 3,383 American and 6,996 Chinese. Sarcopenia was defined by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 and Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria. Social isolation was measured by the Steptoe Social Isolation Index for American and a 5-item scale for Chinese. Logistic regression models with inverse probability weighting were conducted to explore the effect of social isolation on sarcopenia risk. Causal mediation analysis was conducted to examine direct and indirect associations.

resultsOver 8-year and 4-year follow-ups, 363 Americans and 392 Chinese had sarcopenia. Social isolation was associated with higher risk of sarcopenia in HRS (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.02-1.29) and CHARLS (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.10-1.39). The indirect effects of social isolation on sarcopenia through physical activity were significant only in HRS, explaining 7.63% of the total effect. Handgrip strength and gait speed were significantly associated with social isolation for HRS and CHARLS, while muscle mass and chair-stand test performance were significantly associated only in CHARLS.

conclusionsSocial isolation significantly increased the risk of sarcopenia. Physical activity partially mediated this association only in Americans. More attention should be paid on socially isolated older adults to prevent sarcopenia.

Indexed as

ExerciseSarcopeniaSocial IsolationAgedChinaFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedRisk FactorsUnited StatesIntersocietal differenceOlder adultsPhysical activitySarcopeniaSocial isolation

Identifiers

PMID39948198

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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.