Sarcopenia and Adverse Post-Surgical Outcomes in Geriatric Patients: A Scoping Review

Sarcopenia is associated with adverse outcomes in cancer, chemotherapy, solid organ transplants, intensive care and medical patients. It has also been proven to increase perioperative mortality, hospital length of stay and complications in patients of various age groups. However, a limited number of studies have examined the association of post-surgical outcomes and sarcopenia inclusively in patients aged 65 years and older.

This scoping review aimed to examine the relationship between adverse post-surgical outcomes and sarcopenia in patients aged 65 years and older.

EMBASE and Medline databases were searched for sarcopenia, perioperative period and post-surgical outcomes. The articles were screened based on exclusion and inclusion criteria and were reviewed systematically as per the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Methodology for Scoping Reviews.

After duplicates removal and application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, eight articles were included for this study from a total of nine hundred initially identified articles. All studies defined sarcopenia as low muscle mass but did not include physical function or muscle strength as the parameter of sarcopenia. Low muscle mass was associated with higher mortality in emergency surgeries, reduced long term survival in open elective surgeries, and increased length of hospital stay in endoscopic surgeries.

The current review suggests that low muscle mass is associated with higher mortality and various adverse post-surgical outcomes in the elderly. It remains to be determined if applying the definition of sarcopenia as per the international consensus/guidelines will affect the association of adverse post-surgical outcomes and sarcopenia.