Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 May;276(5):1475-1486.
doi: 10.1007/s00405-019-05361-4. Epub 2019 Mar 4.

Sarcopenia is a prognostic factor for overall survival in elderly patients with head-and-neck cancer

N Chargi  1 , S I Bril  1   2 , M H Emmelot-Vonk  3 , R de Bree  4   5
Affiliations

Sarcopenia is a prognostic factor for overall survival in elderly patients with head-and-neck cancer

N Chargi et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2019 May.

Abstract

Objectives: Sarcopenia is known as a geriatric syndrome associated with increased disability and decreased survival in elderly patients. In oncological patients, pretreatment low skeletal muscle mass (SMM), sometimes referred to as sarcopenia, is an emerging negative prognostic factor. Commonly, only SMM is assessed in cancer patients. Sarcopenia is defined as the combination of low SMM and low muscle function (MF). We investigated the relation between SMM, MF, sarcopenia (SMM and MF combined), and overall survival (OS) in a group of elderly patients with head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Patients and methods: A retrospective study in elderly HNSCC patients treated between 2015 and 2018 was performed. The prognostic value of SMM and MF seperately, and sarcopenia was investigated.

Results: Eighty-five patients were included of whom 48.2% had sarcopenia. The median OS was significantly worse for patients treated with curative intent with sarcopenia (12.07 months; IQR 3.64-21.82) compared to patients without sarcopenia (13.60 months; IQR 5.98-27.00) (HR 2.80; 95% CI 1.14-6.88; p = 0.03). SMM and MF seperately were not significant predictors of OS.

Conclusion: Sarcopenia is associated with impaired OS in elderly HNSCC patients. Sarcopenia, defined as the combination of low SMM and low MF, appears to be a better predictor of OS than low SMM or low MF separately.

Keywords: Body composition; Head-and-neck neoplasms; Muscle function; Sarcopenia; Survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan–Meier overall survival curves and number at risk table for patients with low SMI and high SMI showed no statistically significant difference (Log-rank chi-square 1.14; p = 0.29)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier overall survival curves and number at risk table for patients with low handgrip strength (HGS) and high HGS showed no statistically significant difference (Log-rank chi-square 1.35; p = 0.25)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan–Meier overall survival curves and number at risk table for patients with low gait speed and high gait speed showed no statistically significant difference (Log-rank chi-square 1.95; p = 0.16)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Kaplan–Meier overall survival curves and number at risk table for patients with and without sarcopenia showed statistically significant difference (Log-rank chi-square 5.50; p = 0.02)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Baeyens JP, Bauer JM, Boirie Y, Cederholm T, Landi F, Martin FC, Michel JP, Rolland Y, Schneider SM, Topinkova E, Vandewoude M, Zamboni M. Sarcopenia: European consensus on definition and diagnosis: report of the European Working Group on sarcopenia in older people. Age Ageing. 2010;39(4):412–423. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afq034. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. von Haehling S, Morley JE, Anker SD. An overview of sarcopenia: facts and numbers on prevalence and clinical impact. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2010;1(2):129–133. doi: 10.1007/s13539-010-0014-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rolland Y, Van Kan G, Abellan, Gillete-Guyonnet S, Vellas B (2011) Cachexia versus sarcopenia. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 14:15–21. 10.1097/MCO.0b013e328340c2c2 - PubMed
    1. Goodpaster BH, Park SW, Harris TB, Kritchevsky SB, Nevitt M, Schwartz AV, Simonsick EM, Tylavsky FA, Visser M, Newman AB. The loss of skeletal muscle strength, mass, and quality in older adults: the health, aging and body composition study. J Gerontol Ser A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006;61(10):1059–64. doi: 10.1093/gerona/61.10.1059. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Janssen I, Baumgartner RN, Ross R, Rosenberg IH, Roubenoff R. Skeletal muscle cutpoints associated with elevated physical disability risk in older men and women. Am J Epidemiol. 2004;159(4):413–421. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwh058. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources