Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward sarcopenia among older adults in two cities in Zhejiang province, China

•Older adults lacked sarcopenia knowledge but had moderate attitudes and practices.•Knowledge of sarcopenia influenced attitudes and practices toward sarcopenia.•Education and income positively impacted knowledge on sarcopenia.•Education is vital for improving self-management of sarcopenia precautions. To explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) towards sarcopenia among older adults in Zhejiang province, China. This cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2023 and January 2024 among older community residents who participated in a physical examination in Shaoxing People’s Hospital Physical Examination Center, Shaoxing Yuecheng District Fushan Street Community Health Service Center, Shaoxing Yuecheng District Beihai Street Community Health Service Center, Shaoxing City, and Outpatient Department of Yongkang First People’s Hospital. Their demographic characteristics and KAP towards sarcopenia were collected by a self-designed questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the relationship among KAP dimensions. A total of 1092 valid questionnaires were included. The median knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were 0 (0, 0) (possible range: 0–22), 31 (30, 31) (possible range: 8–40), and 17 (15, 21) (possible range: 6–30), respectively. The SEM showed that knowledge directly positively influenced attitude (β = 0.121, P