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Sarcopenia and fall-related outcomes in Chinese adults aged 45 years or older: a longitudinal cohort study
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  • Published: 09 March 2026

Sarcopenia and fall-related outcomes in Chinese adults aged 45 years or older: a longitudinal cohort study

  • Xin Zhao1,
  • Chaoxuan Wang2,
  • Jian Wang3,
  • Xubo Ding3,
  • Yuchao Wang4 &
  • …
  • Lan Jiang5 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Diseases
  • Health care
  • Medical research
  • Risk factors

Abstract

Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and function, is a significant health concern in middle-aged and older adults, potentially linked to adverse outcomes like falls and fractures. A cohort study was conducted utilizing participants aged ≥ 45 years from CHARLS. Sarcopenia was defined using established criteria. Primary outcomes were isolated falls, isolated hip fractures, and composite outcomes. Associations were assessed using multivariable Cox regression (adjusted for confounders), propensity score matching (PSM), and inverse probability weighting (IPW), reporting hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Conduct sensitivity analyses such as stratification to control for confounding. Among 6,939 participants (42.6% with sarcopenia), 10-year incident rates were 39.7% for isolated falls, 3.3% for isolated hip fractures, and 1.7% for composite outcomes. Sarcopenia was persistently associated with an increased risk of isolated falls across all analyses (adjusted HR = 1.20, 95% CI:1.10–1.31, p < 0.01; PSM HR = 1.19, p < 0.01; IPW HR = 1.26, p < 0.001). For isolated hip fractures, significant associations were found in adjusted (HR = 1.60, 95% CI:1.17–2.17, p = 0.003) and IPW analyses (HR = 1.78, p = 0.01), but not PSM (HR = 0.99, 95%CI:0.68–1.44, p = 0.958). No significant association was found between sarcopenia and composite outcomes.Sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of the results. Sarcopenia is a significant risk factor for falls in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Its association with hip fractures requires further investigation due to inconsistent findings across analytical methods.

Data availability

All data in the article were obtained from the CHARLS database (https://charls.pku.edu.cn/).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the CHARLS team for their selfless sharing of survey data, and we thank Dr. Juan Wang(Department of Neurosurgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China) for her help with this revision.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Hebei Provincial Health Department Research Project (ID: 20251366).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Blood Transfusion, Fengfeng General Hospital of North China Medical & Health Group, Han Dan, Hebei, China

    Xin Zhao

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Fengfeng General Hospital of North China Medical & Health Group, Han Dan, Hebei, China

    Chaoxuan Wang

  3. Department of Orthopedics, Fengfeng General Hospital of North China Medical & Health Group, Han Dan, Hebei, China

    Jian Wang & Xubo Ding

  4. Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, No. 466, Shi liugang road, Hai zhu District, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong Province, China

    Yuchao Wang

  5. Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, Huangshan City People’s Hospital, Huangshan, Anhui, China

    Lan Jiang

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Contributions

X.Z: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Writing Original Draft. C-X.W: Data Curation, Investigation, Writing - Original Draft. X-B.D: Validatio, Visualization, Writing Original Draft. J.W: Validatio, Visualization, Writing Original Draft. Y-C.W: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology. L.J: Project Administration, Supervision, Writing - Review & Editing.All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lan Jiang.

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Zhao, X., Wang, C., Wang, J. et al. Sarcopenia and fall-related outcomes in Chinese adults aged 45 years or older: a longitudinal cohort study. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43398-8

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  • Received: 20 December 2025

  • Accepted: 04 March 2026

  • Published: 09 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43398-8

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Keywords

  • Sarcopenia
  • Falls
  • Hip Fracture
  • Middle-aged and Older Population
  • Propensity Score
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