Clinical Implications of the AWGS 2025 Sarcopenia Criteria in a Large Cohort of Community-Dwelling Thai Older Adults.

Authors

Natthaphon Ubonsutvanich, Rapas Samalapa, Thanyaporn Hengpongthorn, Chawalya Angsuwatjarakorn, Aisawan Petchlorlian, Bhorn-Ake Manasvanich, Sivarat Ratthanasathian, Kearkiat Kearkiat

Published in

Annals of geriatric medicine and research. Aug 24, 2026. Epub Aug 24, 2026.

Abstract

The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2025 criteria introduced revised age-specific cutoffs and appendicular skeletal muscle mass adjusted for body mass index (ASM/BMI) as an alternative muscle mass index. We evaluated their effects on sarcopenia classification among Thai older adults.
This cross-sectional study included 8,073 community-dwelling adults aged ≥60 years attending a tertiary geriatric outpatient clinic. Low muscle mass and sarcopenia were classified using AWGS 2019 and 2025. Discordant ASM/height²- and ASM/BMI-based phenotypes were characterized, and age- and sex-adjusted associations with handgrip strength and gait speed were examined.
Low muscle mass prevalence increased from 43.2% under AWGS 2019 to 44.6% after applying the revised AWGS 2025 ASM/height² cutoffs and to 51.4% after including ASM/BMI. Sarcopenia prevalence increased from 15.1% to 17.5% and 19.7%, respectively. ASM/BMI identified 547 additional participants with low muscle mass. Participants with isolated low ASM/BMI had greater overall and central adiposity than those with isolated low ASM/height². ASM/height² was positively associated with handgrip strength (standardized β=0.262, p<0.001), whereas ASM/BMI was positively associated with gait speed (standardized β=0.122, p<0.001). Neither index was consistently superior across outcomes.
AWGS 2025 broadened low muscle mass and sarcopenia classification through revised age-specific cutoffs and ASM/BMI, which identified a complementary adiposity-related phenotype.

PMID:
42638501
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2026.

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