Comparing Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment With SARC-F for Screening Sarcopenia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Objective: The Mini Sarcopenia Risk Assessment (MSRA), a new sarcopenia screening tool, has 2 versions: MSRA-7 (full version, 7 items) and MSRA-5 (short version, 5 items). We aimed to compare the diagnostic values of MSRA-7 and MSRA-5 to SARC-F for screening sarcopenia.

Design: A diagnostic accuracy study.

Setting: A community in Chengdu, China.

Participants: Older adults.

Measurements: Muscle mass, strength, and physical performance were tested using a bioimpedance analysis (BIA) device, handgrip strength, and walking speed, respectively. Using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) criteria as the gold standard, the sensitivity/specificity analyses of the 3 scales were assessed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curves (AUC) were used to compare the overall diagnostic accuracy of the 3 scales.

Results: We recruited 384 participants. Against the AWGS criteria, SARC-F had a sensitivity of 29.5% and a specificity of 98.1%, and the MSRA-7 had a sensitivity of 86.9% and a specificity of 39.6%, whereas the MSRA-5 had a sensitivity of 90.2% and a specificity of 70.6%. The AUCs of SARC-F, MSRA-7, and MSRA-5 were 0.89 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86-0.92], 0.70 (95% CI, 0.65-0.74), and 0.85 (95% CI, 0.81-0.89), respectively. The differences in AUCs between SARC-F and MSRA-7 and in those between MSRA-7 and MSRA-5 were statistically significant (P <.001), but the difference between SARC-F and MSRA-5 was not statistically significant (P = .130).

Conclusion: MSRA-5 may serve as a novel screening tool for sarcopenia in Chinese community-dwelling older adults. SARC-F, a class screening tool, is also suitable for this population. MSRA-5 and SARC-F demonstrated a similar diagnostic accuracy in our study population. MSRA-5 has better sensitivity, whereas SARC-F has better specificity. However, the diagnostic value of MSRA needs to be further validated in different populations.