Phase angle is a useful bioelectrical marker for skeletal muscle quantity and quality in hospitalized elderly patients

To analyze whether phase angle (PhA) can be a useful bioelectrical marker for skeletal muscle quantity and quality in hospitalized elderly patients. Two hundred hospitalized elderly patients were included in this retrospective observational study. PhA was obtained by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, skeletal muscle area index (SMI) and skeletal muscle density (SMD) were measured at the third lumbar vertebra level in computed tomography images using SliceOmatic software. PhA was positively associated with SMD and SMI, with correlation coefficients of 0.629 and 0.674, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that 1° reduction of PhA was significantly associated with low SMI [odds ratio (OR) = 4.331 (1.681–11.161)] and low SMD [OR = 6.418 (2.963–13.899)]. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for PhA to identify patients with low SMI was 0.772 for male and 0.784 for female; the AUC for PhA to identify low SMD patients was 0.829 for male and 0.812 for female; the AUC for PhA to identify low SMD combined with low SMD patients was 0.801 for male and 0.773 for female. The results of this study showed that PhA was highly related to SMI, which can indicate the quantity of skeletal muscle in the entire body, and was highly related to SMD, which can be used to assess skeletal muscle quality. Therefore, PhA may be a useful bioelectrical marker for skeletal muscle quantity and quality.