Comparison of Screening Tools for Sarcopenia in Older Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

The prevalence of sarcopenia is high in older patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

We evaluated the accuracy of the Strength, Assistance in Walking, Rise from a Chair, Climb Stairs, and Falls (SARC-F) questionnaire, the SARC-F combined with the Calf Circumference (SARC-CalF) questionnaire, the SARC-F incorporating Elderly and Body Mass Index Information (SARC-F+EBM) questionnaire, the MiniSarcopenia Risk Assessment 5-item (MSRA-5) questionnaire, the MiniSarcopenia Risk Assessment 7-item (MSRA-7) questionnaire, and the Ishii test score (Ishii) as screening tools for sarcopenia in older patients with T2DM.

Patients with T2DM aged 60 years and older were enrolled. The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 diagnostic criteria were used to determine the presence of sarcopenia in patients. The accuracy of the 6 screening methods was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

In total, 225 older patients (111 men; 114 women) with T2DM participated in the study. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 24%, with 34.23% in men and 14.04% in women. Among all participants, the sensitivity of the 6 screening tools for sarcopenia was 18.52% to 92.59%, the specificity was 31.58% to 92.98%, and the AUC was 0.588 to 0.863. Among the 6 screening tools, the Ishii test has the highest AUC for screening both men and women, and its sensitivity and specificity are relatively balanced, both above 75%.

Of the 6 screening tools, the Ishii test proved to be the most suitable for early sarcopenia screening within this population.