Simple Screening Test for Sarcopenia Predicts Future Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Introduction: Recently, a simple screening test that can identify sarcopenia using three variables (age, grip strength and calf circumference) has been developed. However, clinical utility of sarcopenia score for predicting future cardiovascular events in patients with kidney disease remains unclear. Methods and Results: We calculated sarcopenia score of 265 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, and followed the patients for cardiovascular events. The endpoint of this study was a composite of total mortality and cardiovascular hospitalization, including heart failure decompensation. The patients in high sarcopenia score (greater than or equal to 105 in men and 120 in women) group showed significantly higher plasma BNP levels (median 103.1, interquartile range [46.3–310.0] vs. 46.7, [18.0–91.8]pg/mL, P < .0001) than those in low sarcopenia score group. Kaplan-Meier curve revealed that the risk of adverse cardiovascular events was significantly increased in high sarcopenia score group (log-rank test: P < .0001), even after potential confounding factors were corrected using propensity score matching. Multivariate Cox hazard analysis identified high sarcopenia score (hazard ratio: 3.00; 95% confidence interval: 1.44–6.27; P = .0003) as independent predictor of primary endpoints. Furthermore, the combination of high sarcopenia score and high BNP identified patients with significantly higher probability of future events (P < .0001). Conclusions: Simple screening score for sarcopenia could be a useful tool for estimating future adverse event risk in patients with CKD.