Prevalence and factors associated with sarcopenia among older adults in a post-acute hospital in Singapore

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundSarcopenia is common in older adults worldwide, but its prevalence varies widely owing to differences in diagnostic criteria, population sampled, and care setting. We aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with sarcopenia in patients aged 65 and above admitted to a post-acute hospital in Singapore.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of 400 patients recruited from a community hospital in Singapore. Data including socio-demographics, physical activity, nutritional status, cognition, clinical and functional status, as well as anthropometric measurements were collected. Sarcopenia was defined using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria (AWGS2019).ResultsOf the 383 patients with complete datasets, overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 54% while prevalence of severe sarcopenia was 38.9%. Participants with increased age, male gender and a low physical activity level were more likely to be sarcopenic, while those with higher hip circumference and higher BMI of ≥27.5m/kg2 were less likely to be sarcopenic. Other than the above-mentioned variables, cognitive impairment was also associated with severe sarcopenia.ConclusionsThere is a high prevalence of sarcopenia in older patients admitted to a post-acute hospital in Singapore. There is an urgent need to address this important clinical syndrome burden and to identify patients at higher risk of sarcopenia in post-acute settings in Singapore for early intervention.Key pointsOne in two older adults are sarcopenic and one in three older adults are severely sarcopenic in a post-acute setting, indicating a high prevalence of sarcopenia and underscoring the urgency to address sarcopenia now.Age, sex, physical activity, hip circumference and BMI are associations with sarcopenia. In addition, cognition is also associated with severe sarcopenia.This is the first inpatient study in Singapore looking at sarcopenia associations and it lends support to global literature on associations of sarcopenia and allows for possible interventions to target modifiable risk factors in sarcopenia.