Evaluating sarcopenia and nutritional status in outpatients with liver cirrhosis: concordance of diagnostic methods.

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: malnutrition and sarcopenia are prevalent in individuals with cirrhosis, but their diagnosis remains challenging due to limited access to suitable methods across different levels of healthcare. This study aimed to identify the most effective method for diagnosing sarcopenia in outpatients with liver cirrhosis and to evaluate the concordance between subjective and objective diagnostic methods.

Patients and methods: patients aged ≥ 18 years with a diagnosis of cirrhosis (regardless of etiology) under outpatient care were included. Exclusion criteria were: a) neoplasia, b) acute liver failure, c) pregnancy/lactation, d) HIV infection, e) special situations requiring liver transplantation, and f) history of organ failure. Nutritional and sarcopenia assessments used subjective methods, including the Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT), SARC-F, SARC-Calf, and RFH-Global Assessment (RFH-GA); and objective methods, including anthropometry, handgrip strength (HGS), the sit-and-stand test (15s), and appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) by Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). Concordance between ASMI and traditional methods was analyzed. Significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: a total of 45 patients were analyzed, with alcoholic liver disease being the most frequent etiology (44.4 %). The sit-and-stand test (15s) combined with muscle depletion by DXA diagnosed the most cases of sarcopenia (42.2 %). Moderate agreement was found between muscle depletion and isolated calf circumference (CC) (κ = 0.581; p < 0.001).

Conclusions: our study suggests excluding SARC-F and SARC-CalF from sarcopenia screening in outpatients with cirrhosis. While ASMI remains the most reliable diagnostic method, CC may serve as a feasible alternative when DXA is unavailable.