Sarcopenia screening in elderly with Alzheimer’s disease: performances of the SARC-F-3 and MSRA-5 questionnaires

Abstract

Background The 3-item SARC-F (SARC-F-3) and the 5-item Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment (MSRA-5) questionnaires have been recently proposed to screen elderly people regarding the risk of sarcopenia. However, no studies have investigated their performances in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods We conducted a single-center observational study, including 130 consecutive AD patients (mean age: 70.71 ± 8.50 y, 54.6% women) who attended a center for neurodegenerative diseases. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People of 2010 (EWGSOP1) and of 2018 (EWGSOP2) criteria. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to assess the diagnostic performance of SARC-F-3 and MSRA-5. Results SARC-F-3 showed a sensitivity of 9.7%, a specificity of 82.8% and an AUC of 0.41 using EWGSOP1, whereas the sensitivity was of 16.7%, specificity of 84.7% and AUC of 0.58 using EWGSOP2. The MSRA-5 displayed a sensitivity of 3.2%, a specificity of 89.9% and an AUC of 0.41 using EWGSOP1, whereas sensitivity was of 0%, specificity of 91.1% and the AUC of 0.55 using EWGSOP2 criteria. The questionnaires showed a moderate agreement (Cohen's k = 0.53). Conclusions In our sample of AD patients, a sizable number of sarcopenic individuals were misidentified by SARC-F-3 and MSRA-5, making those questionnaires unsuitable for sarcopenia screening. Considering that sarcopenia has a high prevalence in dementia and that its correct and timely identification is paramount for optimal management of patients, the development and validation of an ad-hoc sarcopenia screening tool for AD patients is highly desirable. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03441-5.

Comparison of the performance of four screening tools for sarcopenia in patients with chronic liver disease

“…The MSRA-7 showed high sensitivity (87.50%) and low specificity (22.85%), with an overall diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.552) that was slightly better than the SARC-F (AUC = 0.528), although the difference was not statistically significant. These findings were consistent with previous studies conducted on hospitalized older individuals [ 39 , 40 ]. The advantage of the MSRA-7 over the SARC-F lay in its ability to assess risk factors beyond sarcopenia, such as regular eating habits and adequate protein intake for muscle tissue maintenance.…”

Meta‐analysis on the interrelationship between sarcopenia and mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia

“…The flow diagram of the literature retrieval process is shown in Figure . Seventy‐seven studies with a sample size ranging from 26 to 12 912 participants and a total of 92 058 participants were included in the qualitative analysis 11,12,18–92 . Of these 77 studies, 71 were cross‐sectional, 4 were cohort and 2 were interventional studies.…”

“…Seventy‐seven studies with a sample size ranging from 26 to 12 912 participants and a total of 92 058 participants were included in the qualitative analysis. 11 , 12 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ...…”