The impact of properly diagnosed sarcopenia on postoperative outcomes after gastrointestinal surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review of observational cohort studies
PubMed 32822372 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237740
What was done
A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted according to PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO CRD42019132221) searching PUBMED and EMBASE. The authors identified studies assessing sarcopenia diagnosed by both radiological and clinical criteria and its relationship with postoperative complications and 30-day hospital readmissions in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.
What was found
Eleven studies comprising 4,265 patients were included. Sarcopenia prevalence ranged from 6.8% to 35.9%. Meta-analysis demonstrated that sarcopenia was associated with significantly increased postoperative complications (OR 3.01, 95% CI 2.55-3.55) and increased 30-day hospital readmissions (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.44-3.36).
Why it matters
Preoperative sarcopenia strongly predicts surgical complications and readmission in gastrointestinal surgery, underscoring the need for routine preoperative sarcopenia screening.
Limits
The abstract does not report specific results for the subgroup analyses by surgery type, nor does it provide measures of heterogeneity across included studies. All underlying studies appear to be observational cohorts.
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