ReviewReviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders2025
Poor muscle quality: A hidden and detrimental health condition in obesity.
Review in Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Associations of CT-Derived Skeletal Muscle Index and Density With Postoperative Outcomes Following Colorectal Cancer Surgery.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic syndrome and acquired hypothalamic obesity: from fragmented care to integrated multidisciplinary management.Pituitary · 2026Review
- Future of CT body composition research: Methodological discrepancies and advances.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2026Review
- Does fat mass contribute to knee osteoarthritis risk beyond weight itself? Data from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study.Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2026Article
- Optimizing Weight Loss in the GLP-1 Era: Preserving Muscle Mass, Function and Metabolic Health Through Precision Nutrition and Resistance Training.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Methodological standards for body composition assessment-an expert-endorsed guide for research and clinical applications: bioimpedance, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, computerized tomography, and ultrasound methods.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Review
- Dyslipidemia is associated with abdominal fat depots but not with bone mineral density and muscle fat infiltration.Lipids in health and disease · 2026Article
- Identifying Individuals at Risk of Functional Decline Despite Preserved Muscle Mass: Insights from Appendicular Skeletal Muscle Mass and Handgrip Strength Discordance.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- The Impact of Modern Lifestyles on Spinal Health in the Pediatric Population: A Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Variability in BIA-Derived Muscle Mass Estimates: Device Choice Impacts Diagnostic Classification.Nutrients · 2026Article
- "Muscle quality": rethinking an imprecise term.European geriatric medicine · 2026Review
- Review
- Body roundness index: superior predictors of intramuscular fat infiltration in general population.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Muscle Mass and Quality With an AI-Based Muscle Ultrasound Imaging System in Patients at Risk of Malnutrition.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Observational
- Sarcopenic Obesity in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: A Scoping Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Article
- Body Muscle-to-Fat Ratio (BMFR) as a Promising Anthropometric Index for Use in the Evaluation of Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Disease Risk: a Narrative Review.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Physical activity and exercise within the context of obesity treatment: Enhancing health beyond weight loss.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Review
- Looking beyond fat in obesity: the frequently overlooked importance of muscle mass.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2025Article
- Assessment of Muscle-Specific Strength in Oncology Patients: Anthropometry as a Reliable Alternative to DXA.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Sarcopenic obesity and weight loss-induced muscle mass loss.Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Poor muscle quality (MQ) is a hidden health condition in obesity, commonly disregarded and underdiagnosed, associated with poor health-related outcomes. This narrative review provides an in-depth exploration of MQ in obesity, including definitions, available assessment methods and challenges, pathophysiology, association with health outcomes, and potential interventions. MQ is a broad term that can include imaging, histological, functional, or metabolic assessments, evaluating beyond muscle quantity. MQ assessment is highly heterogeneous and requires further standardization. Common definitions of MQ include 1) muscle-specific strength (or functional MQ), the ratio between muscle strength and muscle quantity, and 2) muscle composition (or morphological MQ), mainly evaluating muscle fat infiltration. An individual with obesity might still have normal or higher muscle quantity despite having poor MQ, and techniques for direct measurements are needed. However, the use of body composition and physical function assessments is still limited in clinical practice. Thus, more accessible techniques for assessing strength, muscle mass, and composition should be further explored. Obesity leads to adipocyte dysfunction, generating a low-grade chronic inflammatory state, which leads to mitochondrial dysfunction. Adipocyte and mitochondrial dysfunction result in metabolic dysfunction manifesting clinically as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and fat infiltration into organs such as muscle, which in excess is termed myosteatosis. Myosteatosis decreases muscle cell function and insulin sensitivity, creating a vicious cycle of inflammation and metabolic derangements. Myosteatosis increases the risk of poor muscle function, systemic metabolic complications, and mortality, presenting prognostic potential. Interventions shown to improve MQ include nutrition, physical activity/exercise, pharmacology, and metabolic and bariatric surgery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
39833502What Socratic holds
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 Socratic graph.