Table 3.

Correlations between SMI, ASM%, and serum biomarkers.

	All (n = 64)		Men (n = 56)		Women (n = 8)
	SMI	ASM%	SMI	ASM%	SMI	ASM%
Albumin
Spearman’s corr. (r)	0.229	0.179	0.147	0.104	0.593	0.272
p-value	0.069	0.157	0.279	0.447	0.121	0.515
Partial corr. (r)a	0.217	0.141	0.143	0.071	0.738	0.114
p-value	0.087	0.271	0.297	0.607	0.058	0.807
Partial corr. (r)b	0.082	0.151	−0.023	0.081	0.765*	0.198
p-value	0.524	0.236	0.868	0.557	0.045	0.671
Partial corr. (r)c	0.072	0.116	−0.034	0.036	0.763	0.248
p-value	0.579	0.369	0.809	0.795	0.078	0.636
Transthyretin
Spearman’s corr. (r)	0.246	0.132	0.208	0.048	0.048	−0.857**
p-value	0.050	0.297	0.124	0.725	0.911	0.007
Partial corr. (r)a	0.237	0.101	0.204	0.002	0.030	−0.839*
p-value	0.061	0.433	0.135	0.987	0.949	0.018
Partial corr. (r)b	0.213	0.120	0.142	0.033	0.075	−0.874
p-value	0.094	0.349	0.302	0.808	0.872	0.010 *
Partial corr. (r)c	0.206	0.090	0.134	−0.017	0.054	−0.889*
p-value	0.109	0.484	0.335	0.901	0.919	0.018
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
Spearman’s corr. (r)	0.271*	0.209	0.144	0.048	0.190	0.095
p-value	0.030	0.098	0.289	0.726	0.651	0.823
Partial corr. (r)a	0.261*	0.175	0.141	0.023	0.200	0.051
p-value	0.039	0.170	0.304	0.868	0.668	0.913
Partial corr. (r)b	0.158	0.186	−0.032	0.016	0.193	0.106
p-value	0.216	0.144	0.819	0.917	0.678	0.820
Partial corr. (r)c	0.150	0.156	−0.040	−0.020	0.277	−0.016
p-value	0.245	0.226	0.776	0.886	0.596	0.977
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)
Spearman’s corr. (r)	0.038	0.181	−0.169	−0.001	0.238	0.190
p-value	0.766	0.152	0.213	0.993	0.570	0.651
Partial corr. (r)a	0.034	0.176	−0.171	−0.013	0.236	0.339
p-value	0.791	0.168	0.212	0.927	0.610	0.457
Partial corr. (r)b	−0.017	0.168	−0.275*	−0.018	0.277	0.290
p-value	0.897	0.188	0.042	0.895	0.547	0.528
Partial corr. (r)c	−0.019	0.165	−0.279*	−0.033	0.279	0.313
p-value	0.825	0.199	0.041	0.812	0.592	0.546
AST/ALT ratio
Spearman’s corr. (r)	−0.360**	−0.089	−0.386**	−0.031	−0.048	0.000
p-value	0.003	0.484	0.003	0.823	0.911	1.00
Partial corr. (r)a	−0.351**	−0.043	−0.384**	−0.001	−0.117	0.361
p-value	0.005	0.736	0.004	0.997	0.803	0.427
Partial corr. (r)b	−0.264*	−0.054	−0.285*	−0.002	−0.025	0.135
p-value	0.036	0.675	0.035	0.986	0.958	0.773
Partial corr. (r)c	−0.257*	−0.011	−0.281*	0.037	−0.139	0.393
p-value	0.044	0.932	0.040	0.792	0.793	0.441
C-terminal agrin fragment
Spearman’s corr. (r)	−0.042	−0.180	−0.008	−0.161	0.429	0.286
p-value	0.741	0.154	0.956	0.235	0.289	0.493
Partial corr. (r)a	−0.029	−0.146	−0.002	−0.133	0.429	0.303
p-value	0.823	0.253	0.988	0.334	0.337	0.509
Partial corr. (r)b	−0.048	−0.182	−0.015	−0.163	0.436	0.311
p-value	0.706	0.152	0.912	0.234	0.329	0.497
Partial corr. (r)c	−0.038	−0.148	−0.008	−0.134	0.476	0.277
p-value	0.770	0.250	0.955	0.333	0.340	0.595

Bold values indicate statistical significance (p < 0.05). corr., correlation; ASM%, appendicular skeletal muscle; SMI, skeletal muscle index (kg m⁻²). Non-parametric partial correlations are corrected for (a) high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, (b) age, and (c) high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and age.

^*p < 0.05;

^**p < 0.01.