Association between sarcopenia and nutritional status in hospitalized patients aged 80 years and over

Objective To investigate the association between sarcopenia and nutritional status among inpatients aged 80 years and over. Methods A total of 120 patients aged ≥80 years admitted into geriatrics department of a third-grade first-class hospital in Shandong province who met inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled from March 2017 to March 2018 in this cross-sectional study.According to diagnostic criteria of Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia, patients were divided into the sarcopenia group and the non-sarcopenia group.General clinical data were collected.Nutritional assessment was validated by using Mini Nutritional Assessment(MNA)and the determined nutritional indexes of serum levels of hemoglobin and albumin.Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to analyze the association between sarcopenia and nutritional status. Results Of 120 inpatients aged ≥80, 28 cases(23.3%)had sarcopenia, including 20 men(71.4%)and 8 women(28.6%). The incidences of sarcomenia were 1.4%(1 case)in patients with normal nutritional status and 100%(6 cases)in patients with malnutrition.Compared with the non-sarcopenia group, the sarcopenia group had lower levels of body mass index, serum hemoglobin, serum albumin and MNA scores[(20.0±2.2)kg/m2vs.(25.4±3.0)kg/m2, (34.5±3.4)g/L vs.(38.6±3.5)g/L, (114.4±14.0)g/L vs.(127.3±14.8)g/L, (8.8±1.9)score vs.(12.7±1.4)score, P<0.05]. After adjustment for all covariates, multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that MNA score was an independent risk factor for sarcopenia(OR=0.118, 95%CI: 0.026-0.530). Conclusions The incidence of sarcopenia is high in hospitalized patients aged 80 years and older.MNA score is an independent risk factor for sarcopenia. Key words: Aged, 80 and over; Inpatients; Sarcopenia; Nutrition assessment