The South Asian population is rapidly ageing and sarcopenia is likely to become a huge burden in this region if proper action is not taken in time. Several sarcopenia guidelines are available, from the western world and from East Asia. However, these guidelines are not fully relevant for the South Asian healthcare ecosystem. South Asia is ethnically, culturally, and phenotypically unique. Additionally, the region is seeing an increase in non-communicable lifestyle disease and obesity. Both these conditions can lead to sarcopenia. However, secondary sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity are either not dealt with in detail or are missing in other guidelines. Hence, we present a consensus on the screening, diagnosis and management of sarcopenia, which addresses the gaps in the current guidelines. This South Asian consensus gives equal importance to muscle function, muscle strength, and muscle mass; provides cost-effective clinical and easy to implement solutions; highlights secondary sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity; lists commonly used biomarkers; reminds us that osteo-arthro-muscular triad should be seen as a single entity to address sarcopenia; stresses on prevention over treatment; and prioritizes nonpharmacological over pharmacological management. As literature is scarce from this region, the authors call for more South Asian research guided interventions.

The prevalence of obesity in Asia is of epidemic proportions, with an estimated 1 billion overweight/obese individuals in the region. The majority of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are overweight/obese, which increases the risk of cardiorenal outcomes in these patients; hence, sustained reductions in body weight and visceral adiposity are important management goals. However, most of the glucose-lowering therapies such as insulin, sulfonylureas, glinides, and thiazolidinediones induce weight gain, which makes the management of overweight/obese T2DM patients challenging. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors are the only oral glucose-lowering agents that have been shown to reduce body weight and visceral adiposity. In addition, SGLT-2 inhibitors therapy reduces ectopic fat deposition and improves adipose tissue function and weight-related quality of life. In this article, we aim to consolidate the existing literature on the effects of SGLT-2 inhibitors in Asian patients with T2DM and to produce clinical recommendations on their use in overweight or obese patients with T2DM. Recommendations from international and regional guidelines, as well as published data from clinical trials in Asian populations and cardiovascular outcomes trials are reviewed. Based on the available data, SGLT-2 inhibitors represent an evidence-based therapeutic option for the management of overweight/obese patients with T2DM.

Background: Abdominal obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Plasma retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) levels have been reported to increase in the abdominally obese subjects and it has been hypothesized that high plasma protein levels were considered to play an important role in the occurrence of T2DM. Objective: We assessed the value of high plasma RBP4 levels as risk factor of T2DM in abdominally obese subjects. Methodology: A case-control study, nested within a cross-sectional study, on 81 abdominally obese subjects was performed. We studied 33 patients with T2DM, compared with 33 matched controls. The plasma RBP4 levels were measured by ELISA. Insulin resistance (IR) status of the patients were determined using HOMA-IR; β-cell function was determined using HOMA-B. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the equality of continuous variables. Forward conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the odds ratios (OR) between high plasma RBP4 levels and consequent T2DM. Path analyses models were performed to assess the influence of risk factors on occurrence of T2DM. Result: Plasma RBP4 levels were significantly increased, while HOMA-B was significantly lower in cases with respect to controls. In analyses adjusted for multiple T2DM risk factors, we observed positive association with high plasma RBP4 levels 9.74 (CI 95%; 2.03 – 46.67) (p = 0.004). It has been proven that high RBP4 level was a dominant risk factor (66.9%, p = < 0.001) influencing incidence of T2DM in the abdominally obese subjects. Conclusion The present study confirmed that high plasma RBP4 level is associated with increased incident T2DM in the abdominally obese subjects, and suggested that RBP4 has a major effect in the development of T2DM.
Diabetes Mellitus

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has made a major impact on hospital services globally, including the care of persons with diabetes and endocrine disorders. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies (AFES) member countries; to describe challenges, changes and opportunities in caring for patients with endocrine diseases, as well as in fellowship training programs, and endocrine-related research in the AFES countries. Methodology: The AFES ASEAN Survey Of Needs in Endocrinology (AFES A.S.-O.N.E.) was an open-ended questionnaire that was sent to the presidents and representatives of the AFES member countries by email. Responses from Societies were collated and synthesized to obtain perspectives on the emergent issues in endocrinology in the Southeast Asian region during this pandemic. Results: The burden of COVID-19 cases varied widely across the AFES member countries, with the least number of cases in Vietnam and Myanmar, and the greatest number of cases in either the most populous countries (Indonesia and the Philippines), or a country with the highest capability for testing (Singapore). The case fatality rate was also the highest for Indonesia and the Philippines at around 6%, and lowest for Vietnam at no fatalities. The percentage with diabetes among patients with COVID-19 ranged from 5% in Indonesia to 20% in Singapore, approximating the reported percentages in China and the United States. The major challenges in managing patients with endocrine diseases involved inaccessibility of health care providers, clinics and hospitals due to the implementation of lockdowns, community quarantines or movement control among the member countries. This led to disruptions in the continuity of care, testing and monitoring, and for some, provision of both preventive care and active management including surgery for thyroid cancer or pituitary and adrenal tumors, and radioactive iodine therapy. Major disruptions in the endocrine fellowship training programs were also noted across the region, so that some countries have had to freeze hiring of new trainees or to revise both program requirements and approaches to training due to the closure of outpatient endocrine clinics. The same observations are seen for endocrine-related researches, as most research papers have focused on the pandemic. Finally, the report ends by describing innovative approaches to fill in the gap in training and in improving patient access to endocrine services by Telemedicine. Conclusion The burden of COVID-19 cases and its case fatality rate varies across the AFES member countries but its impact is almost uniform: it has disrupted the provision of care for patients with endocrine diseases, and has also disrupted endocrine fellowship training and endocrine-related research across the region. Telemedicine and innovations in training have been operationalized across the AFES countries in an attempt to cope with the disruptions from COVID-19, but its over-all impact on the practice of endocrinology across the region will only become apparent once we conquer this pandemic.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Asia, Southeastern ; COVID-19 ; SARS-CoV-2