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SARC-F as a Useful Tool for Screening Sarcopenia in Elderly Patients with Hip Fractures

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

An Erratum to this article was published on 06 August 2020

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

SARC-F is recommended as a sarcopenia screening tool and comprised of five assessment items: strength, assistance walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falls.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to assess whether the SARC-F questionnaire in elderly patients with hip fractures was a valid screening tool for sarcopenia by comparison of the results with criteria from the Europe, Asia, and international working groups.

Measurements

115 men and woman with hip fractures were assessed. The SARC-F self-reported questionnaire scores range from 0 to 10 and a score ≥ 4 defines sarcopenia. These survey questions were used to calculate the SARC-F score. Measurements, including appendicular muscle mass, were taken using dual-energy X-ray and grip strength using a dynamometer. Classification using the SARC-F score was compared using the consensus panel criteria from the international, European, and Asian sarcopenia working groups. The performance of all four methods was compared by examining the predictive ability using a ROC curve.

Results

A total of 115 subjects were included and the sarcopenia prevalence rate (SARC-F score ≥ 4) was 63.5 percent. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value PPV with the EWGSOP-2 criteria in Older People as the reference standard were 95.35 %, 56.94 %, 56.94%, 95.35%, and 71.3%, respectively. In addition, we found similar results for sensitivity and specificity as studies using the EWGSOP and AWGS criteria.

Conclusions

The SARC-F questionnaire is a useful screening tool for elderly patients with hip fractures. This finding supports the recommendation of SARC-F as a screening tool for sarcopenia from the EWGSOP2.

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Change history

  • 06 August 2020

    The original version of this article contained an error in Table and manuscript. The correct information Table and manuscript should be as follows. The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Republic of Korea (Project No: P0002726).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Y.-C. Ha & K.-J. Chun

  2. Elderly Frailty Research Center, Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    C. Won Won

  3. College of Medicine/East-West Medical Research Institute, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    M. Kim

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 90 Chilamdong, Jinju, Gyeongnamdo, 660-702, Republic of Korea

    Jun-Il Yoo

Authors
  1. Y.-C. Ha
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  2. C. Won Won
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Contributions

Authors’ contributions: YJI and HYC designed the study. CKJ carried out the data collection. YJI and HYC performed the statistical analysis. WCW and KMJ wrote and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun-Il Yoo.

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Conflict of interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ha, YC., Won, C.W., Kim, M. et al. SARC-F as a Useful Tool for Screening Sarcopenia in Elderly Patients with Hip Fractures. J Nutr Health Aging 24, 78–82 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-019-1307-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-019-1307-6

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