Accuracy and prognostic ability of the SARC-F questionnaire and Ishii's score in the screening of sarcopenia in geriatric inpatients

Sarcopenia remains poorly managed in clinical practice due to the lack of simple and accurate screening tools. This study aimed to identify the cutoff values of the SARC-F questionnaire and Ishii's score using the variables age, grip strength, and calf circumference in older inpatients in China to compare the accuracy of the two methods and to explore their predictive ability for adverse outcomes (rehospitalization, falls, fracture, and death). Hospitalized patients (n=138) aged ≥60 years were included. The accuracy of the two tools was evaluated using the reference diagnosis recommended by the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (assessing patients with measurements of muscle mass, handgrip strength, and usual gait speed). Follow-up data were obtained by telephone and clinical visits combined with the inpatient medical record system after discharge for at least one year. The results showed that the SARC-F score reached the highest Youden's index when a score of 3 was set as the cutoff value. Ishii's score presented a higher accuracy than SARC-F (area under the receiver operating curve: 0.78 vs 0.64, P=0.01). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated a higher cumulative incidence of rehospitalization in sarcopenic individuals compared to non-sarcopenic individuals according to SARC-F (log-rank test, P<0.001). Cox analysis revealed that SARC-F was an independent risk factor for rehospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio: 4.23, 95%CI: 2.12-9.79, P<0.001). The SARC-F and Ishii's scores might facilitate the early detection of sarcopenia and help identify older adults at risk for adverse outcomes in clinical practice.