Comparing SARC-CalF With SARC-F for Screening Sarcopenia in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Zeru Xu; Ping Zhang; Yifei Chen; Jiahong Jiang; Zijun Zhou; Hong Zhu

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.803924

Comparing SARC-CalF With SARC-F for Screening Sarcopenia in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Front Nutr. 2022 Mar 31:9:803924. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.803924. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zeru Xu¹, Ping Zhang², Yifei Chen³, Jiahong Jiang¹, Zijun Zhou¹, Hong Zhu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
² Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Xining, Xining, China.
³ Department of Medicine, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, China.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of sarcopenia is high in older people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and is now considered a critical problem in the healthcare sector. However, the preferred screening tool for identifying sarcopenia remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to ensure that the diagnostic values of the SARC-F (strength, assisting with walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falling) and SARC-CalF (SARC and calf circumference) scales were compared with five reference diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients diagnosed with diabetes were treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, handgrip strength, and gait speed assessment. Five diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia (Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia, International Working Group on Sarcopenia, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Sarcopenia Project, Society on Sarcopenia Cachexia and Wasting Disorders, and European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People criteria) were utilized. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed on the SARC-CalF and SARC-F scales. The diagnostic precision of both instruments was determined using the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curves (AUC).

Results: This study included 689 subjects (459 men and 230 women) with a mean age of 58.1 ± 13.2 years. In accordance with the five reference diagnostic parameters, the prevalence of sarcopenia was between 4.5 and 19.2%. In addition, the range of sensitivity of SARC-F and SARC-CalF ranged from 61.4 to 67.4 and 82.6 to 91.8%, respectively. Concurrently, the specificity ranged from 63.1 to 67.3 and 51.5 to 61.2%, respectively. Overall, AUC values for SARC-CalF were higher than those for SARC-F, regardless of the diagnostic standard, sex, or age.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that SARC-CalF significantly enhances the sensitivity and overall diagnosis of SARC-F. SARC-CalF appears to be an optimal screening tool for sarcopenia in adults with T2DM.

Keywords: SARC-CalF; SARC-F; diagnostic criteria; sarcopenia; sensitivity; specificity; type 2 diabetes mellitus.