Comparison of the value of malnutrition and sarcopenia for predicting mortality in hospitalized old adults over 80 years

Objective: This study aimed to compare the prognostic value of malnutrition and sarcopenia for mortality in old adults over 80 years.

Methods: A prospective analysis was performed in 427 hospitalized old adults. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters were carried out for each patient. Sarcopenia was defined according to the revised consensus definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2). Malnutrition was defined according to the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) criteria. Mortality data were available for up to 32 months of follow-up.

Results: The overall prevalence of sarcopenia and malnutrition was 35.1% and 19.4%, respectively. The percentage of coexistence of sarcopenia and malnutrition was 12.2%. Of the 427 participants, 83 deaths were reported during the mean follow-up periods of 24.9 months. Compared with non-sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition, sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition and non-sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition had higher mortality risk (Hazard Ratio (HR), 2.36; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31-4.24, P < 0.001; HR, 4.33; 95% CI, 2.12-8.85, P = 0.004; respectively). The patients who coexisted with sarcopenia and malnutrition had the highest risk of mortality (HR, 7.31; 95% CI, 4.21-12.69, P < 0.001). Both sarcopenia and malnutrition could predict mortality separately. Still, from the components of the Cox regression multivariate models, the malnutrition was one of the independent factors influencing the death, sarcopenia was not.

Conclusion: When malnutrition and sarcopenia were compared together in a longitude cohort, malnutrition was an independent risk factor for mortality, while sarcopenia was not. The coexistence of malnutrition and sarcopenia showed a synergistically accumulated risk for death.