Prevalence of sarcopenia among outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Nghe An Lung Hospital in 2024

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia among outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at Nghe An Lung Hospital in 2024. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 399 outpatients with COPD at Nghe An Lung Hospital in 2024. The skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) was measured using the Inbody 770 device. Sarcopenia was classified into four categories: normal, pre-sarcopenia, moderate sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia, according to the 2019 diagnostic criteria of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS). Results: The results showed that 38.1% of the study participants had normal SMI, while 52.1% were diagnosed with pre-sarcopenia. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia among the study population was 9.8%. Sarcopenia prevalence increased with the severity of airway obstruction. According to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) classification, sarcopenia prevalence was 7.0% in stages 1-2 and 18.5% in stage 4. Group E patients had the highest prevalence (11.8%), while groups A and B showed a prevalence of 8.3%. Conclusions: The prevalence of sarcopenia was 9.8%. The prevalence was higher
in females than males (10.5 and 9.6%, respectively; p>0.05). The prevalence was also higher in the group aged over 60 years than in those under 60 years (10.3 and 7.9%, respectively; p>0.05). In addition, the prevalence increased progressively with disease severity and the degree of airway obstruction (p<0.05).