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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1439353
This article is part of the Research Topic Body Composition Assessment and Future Disease Risk View all articles

Measuring Calf Circumference in frail hospitalized older adults and prediction of in-hospital complications and post-discharge mortality

Provisionally accepted
Silvia Canonico Silvia Canonico 1Silvia Ottaviani Silvia Ottaviani 1Luca Tagliafico Luca Tagliafico 1Andrea Casabella Andrea Casabella 2Cristina Marelli Cristina Marelli 3Marta Ponzano Marta Ponzano 3Alessio Signori Alessio Signori 3Alessio Nencioni Alessio Nencioni 1Fiammetta Monacelli Fiammetta Monacelli 1*
  • 1 Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Genoa, Genova, Italy
  • 2 Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy
  • 3 DISSAL, department of Health Science , Genoa, Italy, Genoa, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Sarcopenia, characterized by muscle mass, strength, and performance decline, significantly impacts outcomes in older adults. This study aims to assess the predictive value of calf circumference (CC), in conjunction with SARC-F and hand grip, concerning in-hospital complications and post-discharge mortality among hospitalized frail older adults.Methods: A cohort of 158 hospitalized patients aged over 65 years underwent Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and sarcopenia screening, including CC measurement. Multivariable regression analyses, adjusted for confounders, were conducted to assess predictive associations.The study cohort, comprising 53% males with a median age of 86 years, exhibited significant sarcopenia prevalence based on SARC-F (85% indicating sarcopenia), hand grip strength (probable sarcopenia in 77% of males and 72% of females), and CC (sarcopenia in 83%). Multivariate analysis, adjusting for age, sex, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), and Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), demonstrated associations of CC and SARC-F with in-hospital complications, while CC also showed a significant association with reduced risks of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.441, 95% CI 0.257 to 0.754, p=0.003) and 90-day mortality (OR 0.714, 95% CI 0.516 to 0.988, p=0.043).This study provides insights into the predictive accuracy of sarcopenia screening tools on mortality in real-world hospitalized older adults with frailty. Notably, CC emerges as a robust predictor of mortality outcomes. Further research is warranted to validate and elucidate the respective contributions of CC and frailty to mortality in vulnerable populations.

    Keywords: Calf circumference, Sarcopenia, Frailty, Mortality, In-hospital complications

    Received: 27 May 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Canonico, Ottaviani, Tagliafico, Casabella, Marelli, Ponzano, Signori, Nencioni and Monacelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fiammetta Monacelli, Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Genoa, Genova, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.