Total Distance Walked After Hip Surgery Identifies Older Patients With Sarcopenia

This study aims to determine the optimal cut-off point for total walking distance on the day of hospital discharge to identify older adults at high risk of sarcopenia following hip fracture surgery. A prospective observational study included 135 patients aged > 65 years who underwent hip fracture surgery. Logistic regression models were used to predict probable or confirmed sarcopenia based on hospital stay data. Cut-off points were determined using the Youden index, with internal validation through 10-fold cross-validation. The mean age of participants was 81.6 years (SD 7.6), and 72% were women. Sarcopenia was suspected in 33% of patients, with half meeting criteria for confirmed sarcopenia. Walking distance on discharge decreased significantly with increasing sarcopenia severity (p < 0.001). Thresholds of ≤ 8.8 m for women and ≤ 11.3 m for men identified sarcopenia, with positive predictive values of 90% and 62.5%, and negative predictive values of 73.7% and 96.7%, respectively. Alternative models were developed for cases lacking walking distance data. Walking distance at discharge is a simple, practical, and effective marker for identifying sarcopenia in older adults after hip fracture surgery.