Comparison of Strength, Assistance in Walking, Rise from a Chair, Climb Stairs, and Falls Questionnaire and Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia in sensitivity and specificity diagnosing sarcopenia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) defines sarcopenia as the loss of muscle mass, low muscle strength, and/or low physical performance. This research is an objective study conducted by doctors. The AWGS recommends the use of the Strength, Assistance in Walking, Rise from a Chair, Climb Stairs, and Falls (SARC-F) Questionnaire to assess the characteristic signs of sarcopenia. The aim of this study was to compare SARC-F and AWGS in diagnosing sarcopenia.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Elderly Foster Group and Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Makassar Hospital, involving 107 subjects from May to June 2021. Using the AWGS criteria, sarcopenia was divided into normal, possible sarcopenia, sarcopenia, and severe sarcopenia; SARC-F was divided into normal and sarcopenia. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Statistical testing was assessed using a χ2 test and Fisher’s Exact Test.RESULTS: We examined 107 subjects of which 78 subjects (72.9%) were normal, 27 subjects (25.2%) had possible sarcopenia, and two subjects (1.9%) were categorized with sarcopenia according to the AWGS criteria. According to the SARC-F criteria, 99 subjects (92.5%) were found to be normal, and 8 subjects (7.5%) had sarcopenia. In this study, the positive predictive value was 87.5%, the negative predictive value was 77.8%, the sensitivity was 24.1%, and the specificity was 98.7%.CONCLUSIONS: SARC-F cannot be used as a tool to diagnose sarcopenia due to its low sensitivity and high specificity.

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