Comparison of six screening methods for sarcopenia among rural community-dwelling older adults: a diagnostic accuracy study

AimTo determine the diagnostic efficacy of six screening tools for sarcopenia.Findings44.5% were diagnosed as sarcopenia in men and 39.1% in women. SarSA-Mod had a high screening value after redefining the cutoff value, and the Ishii test may be our better screening tool for assessing sarcopenia. The SARC-F's modified versions showed significantly increased sensitivity.MessageThe Ishii test is the best tool among the six screening tools for assessing sarcopenia in the study. ObjectiveThe objective of this analysis was to determine the diagnostic efficacy of the Ishii test, SarSA-Mod, SARC-F, SARC-Calf, SARC-F+AC, and SARC-Calf+AC for screening for sarcopenia among rural community-dwelling older adults.MethodsThe AWGS 2019 diagnostic criteria was a diagnostic reference for sarcopenia. There were six screening tools whose accuracy was determined through the use of metrics, including specificity, sensitivity, negative and positive predictive values, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.ResultsThe study included 551 participants (304 women, age 70.9 +/- 4.9 years). The prevalence of sarcopenia was 44.5% in men and 39.1% in women. In males, the sensitivity/specificity of the Ishii test, SarSA-Mod, SARC-F, SARC-Calf, SARC-F+AC, and SARC-Calf+AC screening sarcopenia were 87.3%/65.7%, 98.2%/21.9%, 6.4%/98.5%, 28.2%/91.2%, 33.6%/83.9%, and 84.6%/43.8%, and in females, they were 68.1%/82.2, 100%/23.2%, 16.0%/90.3%, 35.3%/84.3%, 58.8%/61.1%, and 89.9%/42.2%, respectively. In males, the area under the curves of the Ishii test, SarSA-Mod, SARC-F, SARC-Calf, SARC-F+AC, and SARC-Calf+AC were 0.846 (95% CI 0.795-0.889), 0.800 (95% CI 0.745-0.848), 0.581 (95% CI 0.516-0.643), 0.706 (95% CI 0.645-0.762), 0.612 (95% CI 0.548-0.673), and 0.707 (95% CI 0.646-0.763), respectively, and in females, they were 0.824 (95% CI 0.776-0.865), 0.845 (95% CI 0.799-0.883), 0.581 (95% CI 0.524-0.637), 0.720 (95% CI 0.666-0.770), 0.632 (95% CI 0.575-0.686), and 0.715 (95% CI 0.661-0.765), respectively.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate that the overall accuracy of the Ishii test was best among the six screening tools for sarcopenia screening in rural community-dwelling older adults.