Clinical implications of severe sarcopenia in Japanese patients with acute heart failure

Sarcopenia is a geriatric condition characterized by progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. The definition and diagnosis of sarcopenia is inconsistent between different populations and is still evolving. Herein, we investigated the prevalence and clinical implications of severe sarcopenia using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 criteria in Japanese patients with acute heart failure (HF).

Overall, 272 patients admitted for acute HF were evaluated for sarcopenia using the AWGS 2019 criteria.

There were 46 patients with severe sarcopenia, accounting for approximately 75% of patients who were diagnosed as having sarcopenia. A Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with severe sarcopenia had a higher incidence of cardiac death or rehospitalization for HF 1 year post-discharge than those with non-severe sarcopenia or without sarcopenia (log-rank P = 0.006). A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that severe sarcopenia was independently correlated with the occurrence of cardiac death or rehospitalization for HF after adjusting for other prognostic factors (hazard ratio 2.580, 95% confidence interval: 1.404-4.740, P = 0.002).

Severe sarcopenia constituted most sarcopenia diagnoses using the AWGS 2019 cut-off values, and was independently associated with 1-year incidence of cardiac death or rehospitalization for HF post-discharge in Japanese patients with acute HF. The assessment of sarcopenia may provide useful information for HF management. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 477-482.