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Published on: February 13, 2020
Evaluating the Discriminative Performance of SARC-F and SARC-CalF in Identifying Functional Impairment in
Marcia de Araújo Corcino Fernandes1, Geraldo Eduardo Guedes de Brito1, Kauane Flechas Arruda Perdigão1
1Postgraduate Program in Physiotherapy, Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
Background And Purpose:
To estimate the prevalence of sarcopenia risk, examine the association between reduced functional performance and sarcopenia risk using the SARC-F questionnaire (Strength, Assistance with walking, Rise from a chair, Climb stairs, and Falls) and the SARC-CalF tool (SARC-F combined with calf circumference), and evaluate the discriminative ability of these instruments to identify reduced functional performance among community-dwelling older adults living in a small municipality in Northeastern Brazil.
Methods:
This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Jacaraú, Paraíba, Brazil, and included 253 older adults. The discriminative ability of SARC-F and SARC-CalF to identify reduced functional performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. All analyses were conducted using R software, version 4.3.1.
Results:
The SARC-F demonstrated greater discriminative ability for identifying impairments in balance across the evaluated postures. Both the SARC-F and SARC-CalF showed comparable discriminative performance for reduced gait speed and lower-limb muscle strength. In contrast, the SARC-CalF showed superior discriminative ability for identifying low handgrip strength.
Discussion:
Both the SARC-F and SARC-CalF demonstrated acceptable discriminative ability for identifying functional impairment, with area under the curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.60 to 0.80 across the functional domains evaluated.
