2025 Volume 3 Pages 1-6
Purpose: To investigate prevalences of sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia among patients with hematological malignancies prior to chemotherapy according to Asia Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 criteria, and to elucidate clinical characteristics of patients with sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia.
Methods: Patients admitted for chemotherapy to the department of hematology, Iizuka Hospital were evaluated for body composition and physical function before treatment. Using the AWGS 2019 criteria, they were classified into non-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia groups. Various factors were compared between these groups.
Results: Among 118 eligible patients, 18 (15.3%) and 21 (17.8%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia, respectively. Patients with sarcopenia were more likely to have malnutrition and cachexia compared to non-sarcopenia patients. Addition to these clinical features, severe sarcopenia patients were older and in higher inflammatory status than non-sarcopenia patients. When we compared severe sarcopenia patients with non-sarcopenia patients, and with sarcopenia patients, significantly more patients had poor performance status in severe sarcopenia group than in both groups of patients.
Conclusion: Prevalence rates of sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia among patients with hematological malignancies prior to chemotherapy were high, and these patients had more adverse clinical characteristics.
