Sarcopenia and Frailty in Chronic Liver Damage: Common and Different Points

Abstract

Aim: To elucidate the common and different points between sarcopenia and frailty in chronic liver damage (CLD).

Patients and methods: Patients with both grip strength decline and skeletal muscle index decline were regarded as sarcopenia. Frailty was defined as a syndrome in which 3 or more of the following criteria were met: i) exhaustion, ii) body weight loss, iii) slow walking speed, iv) muscle weakness, and v) low physical activity.

Results: Sarcopenia and frailty were identified in 52 patients (15.2%) and 46 (13.5%), respectively. The prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty was well stratified according to age and the liver cirrhosis (LC) status. In the multivariate analysis, we identified significant factors for sarcopenia: i) age, ii) LC, iii) body mass index and iv) extracellular water (ECW) to total body water (TBW) ratio, while only the ECW to TBW ratio was significant for frailty.

Conclusion: Sarcopenia and frailty in CLD should be separately evaluated.

Keywords: Sarcopenia; chronic liver damage; common point; different point; frailty.