Sarcopenia prevalence in recovered of COVID-19 patients

Purpose: To determine the sarcopenia prevalence in recovered of COVID-19 patients from INER. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was performed, were assessed 349 recovered COVID-19 patients, we included adults who were in hospitalization at the INER and required or not IMV, minors were excluded. Dynapenia and sarcopenia diagnosis were determined through EWGSOP2 criterion: grip strength (kg) <27 for man and <16 for woman; appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by height2 (kg/m2) <7 for man and <5.5 for woman; gait speed (m/sec) ≤0.8 in both. Results: The average patients age were 50.46 ± 12.82 years, 62.18% were man. 40% of patients required IMV. Sarcopenia prevalence in the study population were 42.79% and in patients who required IMV were 51.24% and without IMV were 30%. The most common comorbidities were systolic arterial hypertension (27.79%) and diabetes mellitus (25.79%). Lower parameters were shown in patients with IMV on phase angle (6 ± 1.70 vs 6.5 ± 1.4, p= 0.029), grip strength (23.41 ± 9.22 vs 26.63 ± 8.94, p= 0.013) and meters traveled in the 6 minute walk (469.46 ± 124.54 vs 515.26 ± 95.25, p =0.002), compared with patients who didn’t require IMV. Conclusion: Higher sarcopenia prevalence were shown in patients who required IMV, which impose a worse prognosis for the patients.