title: Prevalence of sarcopenia and relevance of body composition, physiological function, fatigue, and health-related quality of life in patients before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cachexia in patients with hematological malignancies is often related to sarcopenia. We believe that allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) patients often exhibit sarcopenia prior to transplantation. Here, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its relationship with body composition, physiological function, nutrition, fatigue, and health-related quality of life (QOL) in patients before allo-HSCT. We further investigated the confounding factors associated with sarcopenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 164 patients with allo-HSCT in this study. Body composition, handgrip, knee extensor strength, and 6-min walk test were evaluated. Furthermore, fatigue, nutritional status, and health-related QOL were also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-three patients (50.6 %) enrolled in our study had sarcopenia prior to allo-HSCT. Patients with sarcopenia experienced decreased muscular strength and increased fatigue compared with patients without sarcopenia (p < 0.05). Patients with sarcopenia showed significantly lower scores in physical functioning, bodily pain, and vitality in health-related QOL than those without sarcopenia. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that only gender and body mass index were significantly related to sarcopenia (gender, odds ratio, 3.09; body mass index, odds ratio, 0.70; p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sarcopenia is common in patients before allo-HSCT and related to low muscle strength, fatigue, and health-related QOL. Male patients may be more susceptible to sarcopenia than female patients before allo-HSCT. Further study of rehabilitation with gender insight is warranted for patients receiving allo-HSCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Hyogo College of Medicine Hospital, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan. ptmorishin@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: Katsuji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaida
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itani
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikegame
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Norihiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Hiroyasu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002100:Cachexia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D053580:Muscle Strength; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous