Sarcopenia in Acute Care Patients: Protocol for Sarcopenia 9+

Sarcopenia is a disease characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, and is related to worse clinical outcomes, physical impairment, and mortality in all healthcare settings. This nutrition-related syndrome is a reversible condition, and can be effectively counteracted by exercise and nutritional support.

The prevalence of sarcopenia varies widely depending on the criteria, methods, and cut-off points used for its assessment. Although the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) recommended assessing sarcopenia in geriatric patients in all care settings, few studies addressing hospitalized older patients have been carried out, mainly due to the characteristics of acute healthcare settings and their in-patients and because the criteria used are difficult to carry out there. Therefore, this condition remains under-recognized in the setting where this disease is likely to be more present.

Sarcopenia is expected to be a major healthcare problem in the upcoming years in Europe so, in response to this claim for Public Health Action, the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society founded the Special Interest Group (SIG) on sarcopenia that has taken the lead of bridging the gaps between clinical and research in sarcopenia field, in line with the Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research Task Force, and the World Health Organization's strategies to promote Optimal Aging. This goal of SIG on sarcopenia by EuGMS is being carried out by promotion of collaboration among International scientific societies and institutions; they have recently launched the Revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis (EWGSOP2), the SARCUS project on ultrasound for sarcopenia assessment in European countries, and the first International Registry of patients with sarcopenia.

This study aims to provide an overview of sarcopenia assessment older patients hospitalized in acute-care geriatric units.

This is a longitudinal, prospective, observational study in consecutive hospitalized patients in the CHU Brugmann Hospital.

This study has 5 objectives :

1. To determine prevalence of sarcopenia among hospitalized patients in CHU Brugmann.
2. To determine incidence of sarcopenia during the hospital stay.
3. To identify risk factors for the development of sarcopenia at the time of admission and during hospitalization.
4. To assess sarcopenia as a risk factor for clinical adverse outcomes during hospitalization (hospital-acquired infections, falls, delirium, longer length-of-stay, disability, and mortality).
5. To assess sarcopenia as a risk factor for clinical adverse outcomes post-discharge (institutionalization, hospitalizations, falls, disability, and mortality) at 3- and 12-month follow-up.