Disease-Related Malnutrition and Sarcopenia as Determinants of Clinical Outcome.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review summarizing existing literature without formal systematic search or meta-analytic methodology.
PubMed 31768391 · doi:10.1159/000502867
What was done
A narrative review evaluating literature on the prevalence, clinical manifestations, and prognostic impact of disease-related malnutrition (DRM) and sarcopenia across medical, surgical, oncology, and intensive care patient populations.
What was found
The review notes a DRM prevalence of 20% to 50% and a sarcopenia prevalence of 0.1% to 85.4% in general patient populations. Both conditions frequently overlap as malnutrition-sarcopenia syndrome. DRM and sarcopenia are reported to be associated with increased all-cause mortality (including in gastrointestinal, respiratory, and urothelial cancers, as well as liver and intestinal failure), longer hospital stays, higher readmission rates, decreased handgrip strength, more postoperative complications, and higher healthcare costs. No specific risk ratios, hazard ratios, or aggregate sample sizes are reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
It highlights that muscle wasting and malnutrition compound adverse clinical trajectories across multiple disease areas, emphasizing the need for routine screening in acute and chronic care settings.
Limits
The abstract describes a broad narrative overview without systematic search protocols, defined study selection criteria, risk-of-bias assessment, or pooled quantitative effect estimates. Total patient numbers and individual study designs are not specified.
Cited by
- supports Skeletal muscle mass loss during hospital admission is a significant predictor of clinical complications and hospital readmission.