Is It Worth Assessing the Prevalence of Sarcopenia in Pregnant Women? Should Any Impact on Pregnancy Outcomes Be Expected?

The present article is an opinion piece mainly based on selected articles in the field of sarcopenia, with possible relevance for pregnancy. Sarcopenia has gained increasing interest in recent years, since it has emerged that sarcopenia may determine significant health consequences, with related substantial health care expenditure. In particular, some studies suggested that sarcopenia may cause increased risk for several diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and major cardiovascular events. On the other hand, some studies have reported that the association between sarcopenia and these diseases may be bidirectional. In particular, this holds for type 2 diabetes, because sarcopenia and type 2 diabetes share many etiological and pathogenetic factors, such as insulin resistance, oxidative stress, low-grade chronic inflammation, and adiposity. It is also worth noting that some studies have shown a non-negligible sarcopenia prevalence even in people below 40 years of age, and therefore of reproductive age. Taken together, the above considerations support the hypothesis that sarcopenia may be present in women with gestational diabetes (GDM), which shares common traits with type 2 diabetes. Notably, we hypothesize that sarcopenia may exacerbate GDM-related complications and may influence maternal-fetal outcomes, such as preterm birth or cesarean delivery. Additionally, since pregnancy often presents with insulin resistance independently of any comorbidity, it is plausible that sarcopenia may be present during pregnancy even in cases of normal glycemia. However, there is a lack of data about sarcopenia prevalence in pregnancy and its potential impact on outcomes. Therefore, future studies addressing these aspects are advisable.