Meta-Analysis of Acute Sarcopenia among Hospitalized Elderly Patients

Objective: To determine the prevalence of acute sarcopenia in elderly hospitalised patients. Search strategy: The electronic bibliographic databases used are MEDLINE via PUBMED and The Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Methodology Register). The search strategy included a combination of appropriate MeSH and other free-text terms including the following key words: “sarcopenia”, “acute care”, “hospitalisation”, and “elderly”. There was no language restriction for the searches. Abstracts and subsequently selected full studies reporting the prevalence of sarcopenia in elderly adults admitted to inpatient hospitals were reviewed as long as the diagnosis of sarcopenia included at least the assessment of muscle mass. Selection criteria: Observational studies involving elderly Patient > 65 y/o, admitted in an acute care hospital with no sarcopenia. Diagnosis of sarcopenia upon discharged based on EWGSOP or AWGS definition. Data collection and analysis: All published reports of all eligible studies were evaluated by two independent reviewers. Data were extracted data and pooled analysis was done on the different variables collected. Main results: The present study identified six observational studies involving 2106 participants with 418 hospitalized elderly noted to have sarcopenia, showing a prevalence of 19.8%. The age of elderly patients with sarcopenia was significantly higher than those without sarcopenia by 2.91 years (95% CI, 2.18 to 3.65) while the BMI was significantly lower. No significant difference was noted in the proportion of male elderly with or without sarcopenia. A higher proportion of smokers were noted among those with sarcopenia. The risk of smokers for sarcopenia was 1.26x higher than non-smokers (RR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.07-1.48). No significant difference was observed in the length of stay, but a higher risk for mortality (RR = 2.69; 95% CI: 1.96-3.69) and readmission (RR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.27-1.72) was noted among hospitalized elderly patients with sarcopenia. Conclusion: The results of this review showed that the prevalence of acute sarcopenia among elderly hospitalized patients was 19.8%. The age of elderly patients with sarcopenia was significantly higher than those without sarcopenia while the BMI was lower. The proportion of smokers was also higher among elderly patients with sarcopenia. Moreover, the results of this meta-analysis showed that the length of stay.was not significantly different between elderly patients with or without sarcopenia. However, mortality and readmission rate were significantly higher among elderly patients with acute sarcopenia.