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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395740
Research Project: Nutrient Metabolism and Musculoskeletal Health in Older Adults

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: Assessment of the performance of the SarQol questionnaire in screening for sarcopenia in older people

Author
item GEERINCK, ANTON - University Of Liege
item DAWSON-HUGHES, BESS - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item BEAUDART, CHARLOTTE - University Of Liege
item LOCQUET, MEDEA - University Of Liege
item REGINSTER, JEAN-YVES - University Of Liege
item BRUYER, OLIVIER - University Of Liege

Submitted to: Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2021
Publication Date: 7/1/2021
Citation: Geerinck, A., Dawson-Hughes, B., Beaudart, C., Locquet, M., Reginster, J., Bruyer, O. 2021. Assessment of the performance of the SarQol questionnaire in screening for sarcopenia in older people. Aging Clinical Experimental Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-01913-z.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-01913-z

Interpretive Summary: Sarcopenia is common among the elderly and it is a strong risk factor for falls, fractures and other injuries. Identifying sarcopenic adults is important because it provides the opportunity to intervene in a targeted fashion to prevent falls. This study was done to assess whether the validated SarQoL questionnaire could be used to identify older adults with sarcopenia. In an analysis of 309 community-dwelling older adults, the SarQoL questionnaire was effective in predicting sarcopenia. The SarQoL questionnaire showed acceptable screening accuracy, on a par with another frequently used diagnostic questionnaire, the SARC-F. This exploratory study showed that the SarQoL could potentially be applied in a screening strategy, with the added benefit that it also provides a measure of quality of life.

Technical Abstract: Background: Because of its low prevalence and the need for physical tests to establish a diagnosis, recruiting sarcopenic people for clinical studies can be a resource-intensive process. Aims: We investigated whether the SarQoL, a 55-item questionnaire designed to measure quality of life in sarcopenia, could be used to identify older people with a high likelihood of being sarcopenic, and to compare its performance to the SARC-F tool. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from older, community-dwelling participants of the SarcoPhAge study, evaluated for sarcopenia according to the EWGSOP2 criteria, and who complete the SarQoL and SARC-F questionnaires. We determined the optimal threshold to distinguish between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic people with the Youden index. Screening performance was evaluated with the area under the curve (AUC) and by calculating sensitivity and specificity. Results: The analysis of 309 participants provided an optimal threshold value of <\= 52.4 points for identifying people with sarcopenia with the SarQoL questionnaire, which resulted in a sensitivity of 64.7% (41.1-84.2%), a specificity of 80.5% (75.7-84.7%) and an AUC of 0.771 (0.652-0.889). Compared to the SARC-F, the SarQoL has greater sensitivity (64.7% vs 52.39%), but slightly lower specificity (80.5% vs 86.6%). Discussion: The SarQoL questionnaire showed acceptable screening accuracy, on par with the SARC-F. The optimal threshold of <\= 52.4 points should be confirmed in other cohorts of older people. Conclusions: This exploratory study showed that the SarQoL could potentially be applied in a screening strategy, with the added benefit of providing a measure of QoL at the same time.