The associations between serum lipid levels, age, BMI and muscle area after adjusting for liver function, renal function, diabetes, and serum ALB are presented in The linear regression results show that an increased HDL-C level was associated with a greater risk of a decreased muscle area overall (β =-1.91, 95% CI: -2.95–0.87) and in male participants (β = -3.16, 95% CI: -4.70– -1.61), whereas no significant difference was found in the female subgroup (β = -0.54, 95% CI: -1.88–0.80, P > 0.05) (Table 2). This evidence concerns the gene ALB and diabetes mellitus.