Sarcopenia for predicting falls and hospitalization in community-dwelling older adults: EWGSOP versus EWGSOP2

The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) recently published an updated version (EWGSOP2). We aimed to compare the predictive values of EWGSOP-defined and EWGSOP2-defined sarcopenia for the incidence of falls and hospitalization in older adults. We defined sarcopenia according to the EWGSOP and the EWGSOP2. We further modified the cut-off points of the EWGSOP and EWGSOP2 according to the lowest quintile values of the gender-specific distribution of our study population, named “modified EWGSOP” and “modified EWGSOP2”, respectively. We included 384 participants. During the follow-up, 98 participants (26.5%) and 51 participants (13.8%) had at least one fall or hospitalization, respectively. EWGSOP2-defined sarcopenia (hazard ratio [HR] 1.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22–1.84) and modified EWGSOP2-defined sarcopenia (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.23–3.55) were significantly associated with an increased incidence of falls, respectively. EWGSOP-defined sarcopenia and modified EWGSOP-defined sarcopenia also have a trend to be associated with the incidence of falls, but the results were not statistically significant. Only modified EWGSOP2-defined sarcopenia (HR 2.07, 95% CI 1.01–4.27) was significantly related to an increased incidence of hospitalization. In conclusion, EWGSOP2-defined sarcopenia performed more sensitive than EWGSOP-defined sarcopenia for predicting the incidence of falls or hospitalization, especially when using the modified cutoffs.