The role of sarcopenia questionnaires in hospitalized patients with chronic heart failure

OBJECTIVES: To compare the diagnostic value of the SARC-F, MRSA-7 and MRSA-5 questionnaires in screening for sarcopenia in inpatients with chronic heart failure (CHF). PATIENTS: A total of 355 CHF patients hospitalized from January 2019 to August 2019 who met the study’s selection criteria were included in the analysis. MEASUREMENTS: Handgrip strength and gait speed were measured, and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was used to estimate appendicular skeletal muscle mass. The sensitivity/specificity of the SARC-F, MRSA-7 and MRSA-5 questionnaires was evaluated. RESULTS: The diagnostic criteria of the Asia Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) were used as the gold standard for diagnosing sarcopenia. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 55.8% according to the AWGS diagnostic criteria, 31.0% according to the SARC-F, 73.0% according to the MRSA-7, and 71.3% according to the MRSA-5. Using the AWGS criteria as the gold standard, the SARC-F had a sensitivity of 52.5% and a specificity of 96.2% in the whole study population, the MRSA-7 had a sensitivity of 92.4% and a specificity of 51.6%, and the MRSA-5 had a sensitivity of 93.9% and a specificity of 57.3%. The areas under the ROC curves for the SARC-F, MRSA-7 and MRSA-5 were 0.78, 0.74 and 0.77, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The MSRA-7 and MSRA-5 may serve as novel screening tools for sarcopenia in hospitalized patients with CHF. The SARC-F, a classic screening tool, is also suitable for this population. The MSRA-7 and MSRA-5 have better sensitivity, whereas the SARC-F has better specificity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40520-020-01561-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.