Abstract
Objectives
To examine individual items of the SARC-F in predicting adverse outcomes.
Design
Prospective cohort study.
Setting
Community-dwelling older people in Hong Kong SAR China.
Participants
A total of 4000 men and women aged 65 years and over, stratified in 3 age groups (65–69,
70–74, 75+ years of age).
Measurements
Information was collected by questionnaire, on sociodemographic details, lifestyle
habits, cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination, depression using
the Geriatric Depression Scale, SARC-F, and physical limitation in daily activities.
Physical performance measures include chair stand and walking speed. Adverse outcomes
included physical limitation, lower limb strength using repeated chair stands, slow
walking speed, length of hospital stay, and mortality. Predictive ability of each
item of the SARC-F was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve. Stepwise
model was used to assess incremental predictive ability.
Results
The overall ranking of the questions in order of highest predictability in terms of
area under the curve values were strength, climb stairs, assistance in walking, rise
from a chair, and falls. The first 3 questions individually predicted all the adverse
outcomes, and in stepwise models of the individual questions, a combination of these
3 questions gave the highest area under the curve values.
Conclusions
The 5-item SARC-F may be shortened to 3 items (strength, climb stairs, and assistance
in walking) in rapid screening for sarcopenia in clinical practice.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 24, 2017
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
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- Modulating Effect of Contextual Factors on Factor Structure and Reliability of SARC-FJournal of the American Medical Directors AssociationVol. 19Issue 6
