Our main analysis (k = 5; 500 subjects with sarcopenia and 852 subjects without sarcopenia) showed that sarcopenia was associated with significantly higher levels of NT-proBNP (MD: 947.45, 95% CI 98.97 – 1795.93, I2 = 35%, P = 0.03) (Fig. 3). The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is sarcopenia.