Published online Oct 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.125822
Revised: August 5, 2026
Accepted: September 28, 2026
Published online: October 15, 2026
Processing time: 87 Days and 18.3 Hours
Diabetes and sarcopenia have been shown to share common risk factors and are conditions that have been demonstrated to have a severely deleterious effect on the quality of life of older adults, and which have even been shown to increase the risk of death. Their bidirectional relationship is clear: Each condition raises the likelihood of developing the other. The interaction between these two conditions has been demonstrated to result in a significant increase in the risk and severity of vascular complications. Vascular lesions in the context of diabetes complicated by sarcopenia exhibit unique pathological characteristics, namely a higher risk of vascular lesions and a more severe course. In the comorbidity model, the resulting imbalance in the body’s RNA metabolic network exacerbates vascular lesions, leading to persistent vascular damage. This review summarizes how RNA metabolic imbalance in the context of comorbidity serves as a key molecular hub linking diabetic metabolic disorders, the progression of sarcopenia, and the onset of vascular lesions. Non-coding RNA regulatory networks represent a pivotal regulatory mechanism for comorbidity-related vascular lesions, playing an irreplaceable regulatory role in the formation and progression of the comorbidity vicious cycle. They provide novel molecular targets for precision-targeted therapy of diabetes, sarcopenia and associated vascular lesions.
Core Tip: This article highlights that imbalances in RNA metabolism represent a key molecular link between diabetes, sarcopenia and vascular pathology. It emphasizes that non-coding RNA networks act as indispensable regulatory factors in the vascular damage caused by comorbidity, thereby providing new targets for precision therapy in the treatment of vascular pathology associated with comorbidity in older adults.