SARC-CalF-assessed risk of sarcopenia and associated factors in cancer patients

Introduction: sarcopenia is considered a risk factor, especially for cancer patients, as it increases mortality and post-surgical complications, and reduces response to treatment and quality of life.

Objective: to identify the risk of sarcopenia by SARC-CalF and associated factors in patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and adnexal glands.

Methods: cross-sectional study described. Patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and adnexal glands, without edema or ascites, of both sexes and aged ≥ 20 years were included. Conventional anthropometric variables and handgrip strength (HGS) were measured. The risk of sarcopenia was obtained by the SARC-CalF questionnaire and nutritional status by the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Data analysis was performed using the SPSS® software, 22.0, with a significance of 5 %.

Results: a total of 70 patients participated. Of these, 55.7 % were female, aged over 60 years (52.9 %) and non-white (64.3 %). PG-SGA identified 50.0 % of patients as well-nourished and 50.0 % with some degree of malnutrition. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 28.6 %. There were moderate correlations between the SARC-CalF score, age and anthropometric variables (p < 0.05). After a linear regression analysis, the measures that most influenced the SARC-CalF score were body mass index (BMI), HGS of the non-dominant hand, and the PG-SGA score (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: SARC-CalF identified risk of sarcopenia for a prevalence of 28.6 % of the evaluated patients, and was associated with BMI, HGS and the PG-SGA score.