A diagnostic proposal for sarcopenic obesity in adults based on body composition phenotypes

•The available operative definitions of sarcopenic obesity (SO) result in markedly discordant prevalence estimates.•We developed an unbiased body composition-based diagnostic approach using machine-learning algorithms to diagnose SO.•This approach demonstrated a clinical relevance on the assessment of the clinical phenotype and cardiometabolic risk of SO.•This diagnostic approach should allow an improved identification of SO and thus help raise awareness of this condition.