A sarcopenia screening test predicts mortality among hospitalized cancer patients

• Published in: Physiological reports Vol. 12; no. 15; pp. e16173 - n/a
• Main Authors: Lin, Wen‐Li, Chen, Jyh‐Jou, Wu, Li‐Min, Huang, Wen‐Tsung, Guo, How‐Ran, Nguyen, Thi‐Hoang‐Yen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2024; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Albumin; Body mass index; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cognitive ability; Delirium; Dementia disorders; Edema; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Middle Aged; Mortality; Muscle strength; Musculoskeletal system; Neoplasms - complications; Neoplasms - diagnosis; Neoplasms - mortality; Oncology; Original; Patients; Population studies; prediction; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Questionnaires; Regular Manuscript; Sarcopenia; Sarcopenia - diagnosis; Sarcopenia - mortality; screening; Survival analysis; Taiwan - epidemiology; Womens health; Taiwan; mortality; prediction; screening; cancer; hospitalization; sarcopenia
• ISSN: 2051-817X; 2051-817X
• DOI: 10.14814/phy2.16173

This study investigated the ability of a sarcopenia screening test to predict mortality among cancer inpatients. We conducted a prospective study of patients admitted to the oncology ward of a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. Over a 5‐month period, 82 patients were enrolled for evaluation and were followed for 3 years. All participants received a comprehensive assessment at the time of admission, including Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, cognitive ability, nutrition index, body mass index, and short physical performance battery (SPPB). Age, ECOG performance status, dementia, SPPB score, and albumin level were associated with sarcopenia. Of the enrolled participants, 53 (64.6%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. Patients with sarcopenia were associated with worse overall survival (OS) than patients without sarcopenia (28.8% vs. 82%, p  = 0.01). Metastasis (hazard ratio [HR]: 5.166; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.358–19.656) and albumin level (HR: 4.346; 95% CI: 1.493–12.654) were independent and significant predictors of OS for the whole study population. Age was a predictor of 2‐year all‐cause mortality among patients aged ≥65 years but not among those aged <65 years (OS: 25.6% vs. 100%, p  = 0.04). To summarize, the sarcopenia screening results were found to predict OS and all‐cause mortality and may be helpful for patient stratification during in‐hospital care.