A sarcopenia screening test predicts mortality in hospitalized older adults

The aim of this study is to investigate the validation of a sarcopenia screening test (Ishii's formula) for predicting long-term mortality among older adult inpatients. A prospective, observational study was conducted in acute geriatric wards at three hospitals in western China. Sarcopenia was estimated using Ishii's formula. Survival status was assessed at 12, 24, and 36 months after the baseline investigation. Cox proportional-hazard models were applied to calculate the hazard ratio for mortality associated with sarcopenia. Three hundred and eighty participants (100 women) with a mean age of 80.2 +/- 7.1 years were included. According to Ishii's formula, 264 participants (69.5%) were sarcopenic. The prevalence of sarcopenia was similar in men and women (71.1% vs. 65.0%, respectively, P = 0.258). Sixty-seven participants (17.6%) died during the 3-year follow-up period. The all-cause mortality was significantly higher in the sarcopenia group than in the non-sarcopenia group (20.1% vs. 12.1%, respectively, P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis identified sarcopenia as a significant predictor of 3-year all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-4.15). In conclusion, sarcopenia, estimated by Ishii's formula, can predict 3-year all-cause mortality in a study population of hospitalized older adults.