Table 2.
Descriptive of selected studies investigating the prevalence of sarcopenia in liver cirrhosis (N = 36)
| Study | Region (country) | Age | Study design | Study setting | Diagnosis of sarcopenia | Method of body composition assessment | Score (risk of bias) |
| Iacob et al, 2022 (16) | Romania (Europe) | 54.5 ± 12.6 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | EWGSOP2 criteria combining low HGS (<27 kg for men and HGS <16 kg for women) with low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Anand et al, 2022 (17) | India (Asia) | 18–60 (mean 42.6) | Cohort | Care centre | EWGSOP2 criteria combining low HGS (<27 kg for men and HGS < 16 kg for women) with low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Topan et al, 2022 (18) | Romania (Europe) | 61.65 ± 9.49 | Cohort | Hospital | EWGSOP2 criteria combining low HGS (<27 kg for men and HGS <16 kg for women) with low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 in men and <39 cm2/m2 in women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Zeng et al, 2022 (19) | China (Asia) | 18 to 80 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<44.77 cm2/m2 for men and <32.50 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Hanai et al, 2021 (20) | Japan (Asia) | 71 (64–78) | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with low SMI (<7.0 kg/m2 for men and <5.7 kg/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Paternostro et al, 2020 (21) | Austria (Europe) | 18+ | Cohort | Hospital | Low TPMT‐L3 (<12 mm/m for men and <8 mm/m for women) | CT/MRI | 7 (moderate) |
| Nishikawa et al, 2020 (22) | Japan (Asia) | 50–72 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with low SMI (<7.0 kg/m2 for men and <5.7 kg/m2 for women) | BIA and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Traub et al, 2020 (23) | Austria (Europe) | 65 (61.87–65.97) | Cross-sectional | Hospital | EWGSOP criteria combining low HGS (<30 kg for men and <20 kg for women) with low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 in men and <39 cm2/m2 in women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Kim et al, 2020 (24) | Korea (Asia) | 55.9 ± 10.9 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low SI (total ASM [kg]/BMI [kg/m2] <0.789 in men and <0.521 in women) | BIA | 7 (moderate) |
| Salman et al, 2020 (25) | Egypt (Africa) | 53.9 ± 5.0 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (≤53 cm2/m2 for men with a BMI ≥25 and ≤43 cm2/m2 for men with BMI <25 and ≤41 cm2/m2 for women, irrespective of BMI) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Okubo et al, 2020 (26) | Japan (Asia) | 67 (24–8) | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with low SMI (<7.0 kg/m2 for men and <5.7 kg/m2 for women) | BIA and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Saeki et al, 2019 (27) | Japan (Asia) | 70.5 (58.8–76.0) | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) and/or low gait speed (≤0.8 m/sec both for men and women) and low SMI (<7.0 kg/m2 for men and <5.7 kg/m2 for women) | BIA, dynamometry and gait speed | 7 (moderate) |
| Hanai et al, 2019 (28) | Japan (Asia) | 71 ± 11 | Cohort | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with low L3-SMI (≤42 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Kim et al, 2020 (29) | Korea (Asia) | 54.4 ± 12.7 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low SI (total appendicular skeletal muscle mass [kg]/BMI [kg/m2] <0.789 for men and <0.521 for women) | BIA | 7 (moderate) |
| Nishikawa et al, 2019 (30) | Japan (Asia) | 61.5 ± 12.7 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) and low SMI (<7.0 kg/m2 for men and <5.7 kg/m2 for women) | BIA and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Montano-Loza et al, 2012 (31) | Canada (America) | 54 ± 1 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (≤52.4 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38.5 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Fujita et al, 2020 (32) | Japan (Asia) | Not reported | Cohort | Hospital | Low PMI-L3 (<6.0 for men and <3.4 cm2/m2 for women) | Computed tomography (CT) scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Santos et al, 2019 (33) | China (Asia) | 57 (51.75–63.00) | Cohort | Hospital | EWGSOP criteria combining low HGS (<30 kg for men and <20 kg for women) with low SMI (<7.26 kg/m2 for men and <5.45 kg/m2 for women) | DXA and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Carey et al, 2017 (34) | USA (America) | 58 (51–62) | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Benmassaoud et al, 2022 (35) | United Kingdom (Europe) | 54.5 ± 14 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Anand et al, 2021 (36) | India (Asia) | 18–60 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<36.5 cm2/m2 for men and <30.2 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Nakamura et al, 2022 (37) | Japan (Asia) | 62 ± 14 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low PSMI (<12.62 cm2/m2 for men and <9.77 cm2/m2 for women) | MRI | 7 (moderate) |
| Marasco et al, 2022 (38) | Italy (Europe) | 68 (median) | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Murata et al, 2022 (39) | Japan (Asia) | 70 ± 10 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with L3-SMI (≤42 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Luengpradidgun et al, 2022 (40) | Thailand (Asia) | 63 (54.5–64.5) | Cross-sectional | Hospital | JSH criteria combining low HGS (<26 kg for men and <18 kg for women) with L3-SMI (≤42 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan and dynamometry | 7 (moderate) |
| Liu et al, 2022 (41) | China (Asia) | 54.3 ± 11.6 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Jeong et al, 2018 (42) | Korea (Asia) | 53.7 ± 9.6 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (≤52.4 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38.5 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 6 (moderate) |
| Ebadi et al, 2020 (43) | Canada (America) | 18–40 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<42 cm2/m2 for men and <30 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Kumar et al, 2019 (44) | India (Asia) | 45.75 ± 10.6 | Cross-sectional | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (≤52.4 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38.5 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Kappus et al, 2020 (45) | USA (America) | 53.7 ± 12.0 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Feng et al, 2020 (46) | China (Asia) | 51 (45–61) | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<50 cm2/m2 for men and <39 cm2/m2 for women, according to EWGSOP2 criteria) or low SMD (myosteatosis) according to SMD <34.1 HU for men and <27.2 HU for women | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Kang et al, 2018 (47) | Korea (Asia) | 51.8 ± 8.8 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (≤52.4 cm2/m2 for men and ≤38.5 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 6 (moderate) |
| Engelmann et al 2018 (48) | Germany (Europe) | 53.7 (mean) | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<41.90 cm2/m2 for men and <35.30 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Begini et al, 2017 (49) | Italy (Europe) | 71.6 (30.7–86.4) | Cohort | Care centre | SMI ≤41 cm2/m2 for women and ≤53 cm2/m2 for men with BMI ≥25, and ≤43 cm2/m2 for men and women with BMI <25, respectively | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Meza-Junco et al, 2013 (50) | Canada (America) | 58 ± 6 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI: ≤41 cm2/m2 for women and ≤53 cm2/m2 for men with body BMI ≥25 and ≤43 cm2/m2 in patients with BMI <25 | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
| Hou et al, 2021 (51) | China (Asia) | 62.2 ± 12.9 | Cohort | Hospital | Low L3-SMI (<46.9 cm2/m2 for men and <32.5 cm2/m2 for women) | CT scan | 7 (moderate) |
BIA, bioelectrical impedance analysis; BMI, body mass index; CT, computed tomography; DXA, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry; EWGSOP, European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People; HGS, hand grip strength; JSH, Japan Society of Hepatology; L3, third lumbar vertebra; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PMI, psoas muscle index; PSMI, paraspinal muscle index; SI, sarcopenia index; SMD, skeletal muscle radiodensity; SMI, skeletal muscle index; TPMT, transversal psoas muscle thickness.