The assessment of sarcopenia is part of the nutritional assessment index and is essential in stroke management. This study aimed to identify and validate cutoff values of temporal muscle thickness (TMT) measured using computed tomography to identify sarcopenia after acute stroke. The participants were patients with stroke aged ≥65 years who were admitted to rehabilitation units. The recruited patients were randomly divided into the calculation and validation cohort. In the calculation cohort, TMT cutoff values for identifying sarcopenia were calculated using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The obtained values were validated in the validation cohort using sensitivity and specificity. The calculation cohort included 230 patients (125 men, mean age, 77.2 ± 7.2 years), whereas the validation cohort included 235 patients (125 men, mean age, 76.4 ± 6.95 years). The TMT cutoff values for identifying sarcopenia and low skeletal muscle index were the same: 3.83 mm for men and 2.78 mm for women. The TMT cutoff value for identifying sarcopenia showed a sensitivity and specificity of 0.642 and 0.750, respectively, for men, and 0.660 and 0.567, respectively, for women. We identified a valid cutoff value of temporal muscle thickness for identifying sarcopenia after acute stroke. TMT is easy to measure and may be useful for the early detection of sarcopenia.
Keywords: disability; rehabilitation; sarcopenia; subacute stroke.