Peng Gao

All Publications

• Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between body flexibility and sarcopenia. Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle Gao, P., Gan, D., Li, S., Kang, Q., Wang, X., Zheng, W., Xu, X., Zhao, X., He, W., Wu, J., Lu, Y., Hsing, A. W., Zhu, S. 2022

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: The associations between body flexibility and sarcopenia were not well understood. This study aimed to explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of flexibility with sarcopenia.METHODS: Our study selected participants aged 50-80 from the WELL-China cohort and the Lanxi cohort. Participants from the urban area of the Lanxi cohort were followed up 4years later. Body flexibility was measured by the sit-and-reach test. Muscle mass was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Muscle strength was evaluated using handgrip strength. Sarcopenia was defined as having both low muscle mass and low muscle strength. We used multivariable logistic regressions to assess the cross-sectional associations of body flexibility with low muscle mass, low muscle strength and sarcopenia. We also used multivariable logistic regressions to explore the associations of baseline flexibility and 4-year changes in flexibility with incident low muscle mass, low muscle strength and sarcopenia.RESULTS: A total of 9453 participants were enrolled in the cross-sectional study, and 1233 participants were included in the longitudinal analyses. In the cross-sectional analyses, compared with low body flexibility, high body flexibility was inversely associated with low muscle mass (odds ratio [OR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50-0.68; P<0.001), low muscle strength (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.55-0.69; P<0.001) and sarcopenia (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.41-0.65; P<0.001), and these associations did not differ in different age groups, sex or physical activity levels. In the longitudinal analyses, compared with participants with low body flexibility, participants with high body flexibility had lower risk of the incident low muscle strength (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.38-0.74; P<0.001) and sarcopenia (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.21-0.61; P<0.001), but not incident low muscle mass (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.33-1.06; P=0.076). Every 1-cm increase in flexibility during 4years was associated with reduced risk of incident low muscle mass (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-1.00; P=0.025), low muscle strength (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98; P=0.002) and sarcopenia (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-0.99; P=0.007).CONCLUSIONS: High flexibility was associated with reduced risk of incident low muscle strength and sarcopenia. Increases in flexibility were associated with reduced risk of incident low muscle mass, low muscle strength and sarcopenia. Flexibility exercises and monitoring the dynamic change of flexibility might be helpful in preventing sarcopenia among adults aged 50years or over.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/jcsm.13157

  View details for PubMedID 36564014

• Changes in lifestyles and depressive symptom among patients with chronic diseases during COVID-19 lockdown. Scientific reports He, W., Zhao, X., Yang, Z., Min, Y., Wu, Y. H., Kang, Q., Frost, E., Gao, P., Yang, Y., Chen, X., Chen, L., Lu, Y., Hsing, A. W., Zhu, S. 2022; 12 (1): 11407

  Abstract

  This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on lifestyle behaviors and depressive symptom among patients with NCDs (noncommunicable diseases). We incorporated a COVID-19 survey to the WELL China cohort, a prospective cohort study with the baseline survey conducted 8-16 months before the COVID-19 outbreak in Hangzhou, China. The COVID-19 survey was carried out to collect information on lifestyle and depressive symptom during lockdown. A total of 3327 participants were included in the COVID-19 survey, including 2098 (63.1%) reported having NCDs at baseline and 1457 (44%) without NCDs. The prevalence of current drinkers decreased from 42.9% before COVID-19 lockdown to 23.7% during lockdown, current smokers from 15.9 to 13.5%, and poor sleepers from 23.9 to 15.3%, while low physical activity increased from 13.4 to 25.2%, among participants with NCDs (P < 0.05 for all comparisons using McNemar's test). Participants with NCDs were more likely than those without to have depressive symptom (OR, 1.30; 95% CI 1.05-1.61), especially among those who need to refill their medication during the COVID-19 lockdown (OR, 1.52; 95% CI 1.15-2.02). Our findings provide insight into the development of targeted interventions to better prepare patients with NCDs and healthcare system to meet the challenge of future pandemic and lockdown.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-022-15333-0

  View details for PubMedID 35794125

• Cohort Profile: WELL living laboratory in China (WELL-China). International journal of epidemiology Min, Y., Zhao, X., Hsing, A. W., Zhu, S. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1093/ije/dyaa283

  View details for PubMedID 33712826

• Cohort profile: the Lanxi Cohort study on obesity and obesity-related non-communicable diseases in China. BMJ open Wei, C., Ye, S., Ru, Y., Gan, D., Zheng, W., Huang, C., Chen, L., Gao, P., Li, J., Yang, M., Yang, F., Zhao, X., Zhu, S. 2019; 9 (5): e025257

  Abstract

  The Lanxi Cohort was established to systematically investigate the aetiology and interplay of body fat distribution and multiple factors with obesity and obesity-related non-communicable diseases in China.The baseline investigation of the Lanxi Cohort study took place between June 2015 and August 2017 in Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, China. Permanent residents from one urban community and four rural villages were involved in this study. The baseline investigation included questionnaire survey, physical examination, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, blood samples collection and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) inquiry.A total of 5132 participants, aged 18 to 80 years, were recruited at baseline; among them, 38.7% were men and 64.8% were from the urban area. The mean age was 53.04±12.77 years. The completion rates of physical examination, DXA scan, blood collection and TCM inquiry were 99.9%, 98.5%, 99.9% and 96.5%, respectively. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 23.42±3.20 kg/m2 with 8.1% of the study population being obese (BMI ≥28 kg/m2). The crude prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and metabolic syndrome were 34.9%, 10.0% and 30.4%, respectively.All participants will be monitored annually for cause-specific mortality and morbidity and hospital admission and will be followed up by in-person survey every 4 years. The baseline population is considered to expand in the future depending on the availability of funding support.This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the School of Public Health, Zhejiang University.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025257

  View details for PubMedID 31076469

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6527990