Clinical trial NCT04757454: Performance Indicators of the SARC-F Questionnaire in Acute Care
Official title: Performance Indicators of the SARC-F Questionnaire in Acute Care
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Sarcopenia
Sensitivity
Old Age; Debility
Lead sponsor: Brugmann University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-02-17
Enrollment: 105
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 65
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients aged 65 and over hospitalized in an acute care geriatric unit due to acute medical conditions, where the SARC-F questionnaire and the EWGSOP2 was available

Brief summary: The study applies the Sluggishness, Assistance in walking, Rising from a chair, Climb stairs, Falls (SARC-F) questionnaire in older patients hospitalized in an acute care geriatric unit and aims to determine its performance indicators to screen for sarcopenia according to the revised European Consensus on definition and diagnosis (EWGSOP2) within this population

Detailed description: Sarcopenia is an age-related disease associated with health adverse outcomes, i.e. higher risk of mobility limitation, falls, fractures, mortality, and lower quality of life. The European Working Group on Sarcopenia has recently revisited one of the widely used most acknowledged definitions and launched the revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis (EWGSOP2) (4). Applying the EWGSOP2 is a three-tier process: first, screening by the Sluggishness, Assistance in walking, Rising from a chair, Climb stairs, Falls (SARC-F) questionnaire; second, diagnosis by low muscle strength, and low muscle mass; third, severity grading by low muscle function. The EWGSOP2 recommends the assessment of sarcopenia in every population, both in community-dwelling and acute care older patients. However, the evidence about the performance indicators of the SARC-F questionnaire to screen for sarcopenia in acute patients admitted to an acute care unit is really limited.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients aged 65 and over
* Hospitalized in an acute care geriatric unit due to acute health issues or acute medical conditions
* With SARC-F, hand-grip strength and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry administered during hospital admission

Exclusion Criteria:

* SARC-F unavailable
* Unwilling to collaborate in the sarcopenia assessment
* Unwilling to sign the informed consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: Sensitivity of the SARC-F questionnaire as screening method compared to the gold standard, which is the revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis
timeFrame: September 2019-November 2020
measure: Specificity of the SARC-F questionnaire as a screening method, compared to the gold standard which is the revised European Consensus on definition and diagnosis of sarcopenia (EWGSOP2)
timeFrame: September 2019-November 2020
measure: Overall concordance agreement between the SARC-F questionnaire as a screening method and the gold standard method, which is the EWGSOP2
timeFrame: September 2019-November 2020
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Health adverse outcomes based on the screening and diagnosis of sarcopenia as recommended by the EWGSOP2
timeFrame: 1-year follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Brussels
country: Belgium
facility: Brugmann university hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Head of the Geriatrics Department
name: Murielle Surquin
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sanchez-Rodriguez D, Marco E, Davalos-Yerovi V, Lopez-Escobar J, Messaggi-Sartor M, Barrera C, Ronquillo-Moreno N, Vazquez-Ibar O, Calle A, Inzitari M, Piotrowicz K, Duran X, Escalada F, Muniesa JM, Duarte E. Translation and Validation of the Spanish Version of the SARC-F Questionnaire to Assess Sarcopenia in Older People. J Nutr Health Aging. 2019;23(6):518-524. doi: 10.1007/s12603-019-1204-z.
citation: Piotrowicz K, Gluszewska A, Czesak J, Fedyk-Lukasik M, Klimek E, Sanchez-Rodriguez D, Skalska A, Gryglewska B, Grodzicki T, Gasowski J. SARC-F as a case-finding tool for sarcopenia according to the EWGSOP2. National validation and comparison with other diagnostic standards. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2021 Jul;33(7):1821-1829. doi: 10.1007/s40520-020-01782-y. Epub 2021 Jan 28.
citation: Sanchez-Rodriguez D, Marco E, Cruz-Jentoft AJ. Defining sarcopenia: some caveats and challenges. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2020 Mar;23(2):127-132. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000621.
citation: Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, Boirie Y, Bruyere O, Cederholm T, Cooper C, Landi F, Rolland Y, Sayer AA, Schneider SM, Sieber CC, Topinkova E, Vandewoude M, Visser M, Zamboni M; Writing Group for the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 (EWGSOP2), and the Extended Group for EWGSOP2. Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing. 2019 Jan 1;48(1):16-31. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afy169.