Correlation between Sarcopenia Risk and Food Intake in Older Hospitalized Unselected Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objectives: Recently, the SARC-F (Strength, Assistance for walking, Rise from a chair, Climb stairs, and Falls) questionnaire was developed to screen for the risk of sarcopenia in older patients. However, no study has investigated whether SARC-F is linked to food intake. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between SARC-F and food intake in older hospitalized unselected cancer patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study included 53 older hospitalized unselected cancer patients. The SARC-F score was used to identify muscle function loss (SARC-F ≥ 4) or sarcopenia risk [SARC-F + calf circumference (CC) ≥ 11]. Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the relationship between SARC-F and food intake. Results: We found that 51% of patients presented with SARC-F ≥ 4 and 56.6% with SARC-F + CC ≥ 11. Although these patients had a lower calorie intake (22.4 ± 11.9 kcal/kg/day), they had an adequate distribution of macronutrients. We found a negative correlation between the SARC-F score and the calorie and macronutrient intake. However, SARC-F + CC was not correlated with calories and carbohydrates, only with lipid and protein intake. Conclusions: Approximately half of unselected cancer patients presented with muscle function loss (SARC-F ≥ 4) or sarcopenia risk (SARC-F + CC ≥ 11). In addition, we showed an inverse weak correlation between SARC-F and food intake, but not between SARC-F + CC and calories and carbohydrates, suggesting that the SARC-F questionnaire may be used with caution to screen for muscle function loss and correlation with food consumption.