Histologic subtypes are not associated with the presence of sarcopenia in lung cancer

Sarcopenia is prevalent and a known adverse prognostic effector in lung cancer (LCA). However, the relationship between sarcopenia and histology remains uncertain in LCA.

Consecutive patients with newly diagnosed LCA (n = 778) between June 2012 and February 2015 were retrospectively reviewed to identify factors associated with sarcopenia. Sarcopenia was defined as CT-determined L3 muscle index (muscle area at L3/height2) of < 55 cm2/m2 for men and < 39 cm2/m2 for women.

Mean patient age was 67.7 ± 10.8 years, and most (73.1%) were male. The most prevalent histology was adenocarcinoma (44.0%) and 71.6% of patients had stage III or IV disease. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 48.2% (60.3% in men, and 15.3% in women). Univariable analysis showed sarcopenia was significantly associated with male gender, age (≥ 65 years), smoking status, lower BMI (< 23 kg/m2), advanced stage (III and IV), and high comorbidity score (Charlson index ≥ 3). Furthermore, the prevalence of sarcopenia was higher in squamous cell carcinoma (54.9%) and small cell LCA (56.4%) than in adenocarcinoma (39.8%). Multivariable analyses showed sarcopenia was independently associated with a male gender (odds ratio [OR], 11.13), elderly (OR, 2.02) and low BMI (OR, 6.28), stage IV (OR, 1.98), and high comorbidity (OR, 1.93). However, no significant association was found between histologic subtypes and sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia was found to be significantly associated with old age, male gender, an advanced stage, comorbidities, and low BMI in LCA. However, histology subtype was not an independent factor for the presence of sarcopenia.