Role of thigh circumference, calf circumference, subjective global assessment, and handgrip strength as diagnostic modalities of sarcopenia in women inflammatory bowel disease patients

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Sarcopenia is a problem affecting inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) outcome and should be evaluated by measuring muscle mass (using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry [DXA]), muscle strength, and physical performance. DXA has drawbacks as it is expensive, not covered by a national program, and requires a technician. Other inexpensive and simple examinations are needed. The objective is to explore cutoff point and diagnostic accuracy of thigh circumference (TC), calf circumference (CC), subjective global assessment (SGA), and handgrip strength (HGS) to identify sarcopenia in IBD patients. METHODS: The study was conducted in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital during November 2020–June 2021. Analysis was performed to discover the cutoff point and diagnostic accuracy of TC, CC, SGA, and HGS to identify sarcopenia. RESULTS: As assessed by DXA, 7 of 60 women (11.7%) with IBD had sarcopenia. Using CC cutoff ≤31 cm, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive likelihood ration (PLR), and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) were 100%, 60.38%, 25%, 100%, 2.52, and 0, respectively. Using TC cutoff ≤50 cm, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, PLR, and NLR were 100%, 83.02%, 43.75%, 100%, 5.90, and 0, respectively. SGA has sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, PLR, and NLR of 42.86%, 84.91%, 27.27%, 91.84%, 2.84, and 0.67, respectively. The area under curve of HGS was 33.3%. CONCLUSION: In this survey of Indonesian women with IBD, the frequency of sarcopenia was 11.7%. When compared with DXA, TC and CC values over 50 cm and 31 cm, respectively, were helpful to exclude the diagnosis of sarcopenia. SGA and HGS were of lesser value for the identification of a decrease in muscle mass.