In chronic musculoskeletal pain patients, early prevention and detection for musculoskeletal dysfunction (i.e., sarcopenia) is an issue of significant clinical interest. Phase angle, which can be measured through bioelectrical impedance analysis, can detect sarcopenia; however, the evidence on chronic musculoskeletal pain patients is limited. This study aimed to assess the relationship between phase angle and sarcopenia in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. A total of 190 patients (51 men, 139 women; mean age: 67.2 years) with chronic　musculoskeletal pain were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia Criteria 2019. A total of 51 patients (26.7%) including 10 men (19.6%) and 41 women (29.5%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. Phase angle, sarcopenia-related factors, age, and BMI differed significantly in patients with and without sarcopenia. On multiple logistic regression analysis, the prevalence of sarcopenia was observed to be significantly correlated with phase angle and BMI. The areas under the curve exhibited high accuracy in discriminating sarcopenia in men and moderate accuracy in both genders and in women. We conclude that phase angle may be a useful tool for detecting sarcopenia in the patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Purpose Practicing self-care behaviors is important for patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy. Knowledge of personality traits may be useful in providing individualized support that can improve self-care behaviors. Therefore, we assessed the association between personality traits and self-care behaviors in these patients. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients who received intravenous chemotherapy at a designated regional cancer hospital between June 2020 and October 2020. A self-administered survey was conducted among these patients using the Japanese version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory and a 29-item questionnaire to assess self-care behaviors. Association between the scores of the personality traits and frequency of each self-care behavior was analyzed using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results In total, 53 responses were obtained from 57 participants, of which 52 valid responses were included in the analysis. Openness and conscientiousness were personality traits significantly associated with multiple self-care behaviors. High degree of openness, characterized by the ability to tackle new situations, had a moderately significant positive correlation with adjustment of exercise (ρ = 0.49, p<0.01) and activities for a change of mood (ρ = 0.40, p<0.01). High degree of conscientiousness, characterized by the ability to take a health action, had a significant positive correlation with acquisition of information on disease and treatment (ρ = 0.30, p=0.03) and confirmation of inspection results (ρ = 0.39, p<0.01). Conclusion Openness and conscientiousness are associated with self-care behaviors in patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy and may be useful in explaining and predicting individual self-care behaviors.