Dysphagia and sarcopenia are geriatric syndromes, and they are shown to be related. However, there is no study on dysphagia and sarcopenia with the revised European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP)2 criteria.

A recent study published in Materia Socio-Medica evaluated dysphagia and sarcopenia with the revised criteria implementing regional thresholds for skeletal muscle mass (SMM) in hospitalized older patients.

The present study included ambulatory patients ≥60 years of age, from the Internal Medicine Department of a hospital. Grip strength, SMM, nutritional status and dysphagia prior hospitalizations and diet were evaluated. Sarcopenia was defined by EWGSOP2 criteria using regional SMM thresholds adjusted to body mass index (BMI).

Overall, 61 patients were selected. The findings revealed:

• Sarcopenia, nutritional risk and dysphagia in 36.1%, 88.5% and 14.8% of the patients.
• The risk of dysphagia was not associated with sarcopenia.
• Hospitalizations in one year with pneumonia, modified diet, malnutrition and low SMMI (BMI) were more common in patients with dysphagia risk than in those without.
• Whereas, the median age and BMI were higher where SMMI (BMI) was lower, in the group with dysphagia risk relative to the group without.

It was concluded that self-reported dysphagia was not associated with sarcopenia defined by the EWGSOP2 criteria in ambulatory hospitalized patients over 60 years of age.

Source: Materia Socio-Medica. 2019 Dec;31(4):253-257. doi: 10.5455/msm.2019.31.253-257.