The association between strength, assistance with walking, rise from a chair, climb stairs and falls (SARC-F), strength, assistance with walking, rise from a chair, climb stairs, falls and calf circumference (SARC-CalF), Ishii score chart, the short version of mini sarcopenia risk assessment (MSRA-5), the full version of mini sarcopenia risk assessment (MSRA-7) and clinical outcomes in patients with gastric cancer were unclear. We aimed to investigate the predictive values of the above five sarcopenia screening tools on clinical outcomes following surgery in patients with gastric cancer.

The clinical data of consecutive patients who would undergo gastrectomy from May 2020 to October 2020 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were prospectively collected. On the first admission day, patients’ characteristics, Nutrition risk screening 2002 (NRS 2002), the above five sarcopenia screening tools and anthropometric measurements were preoperatively collected. Within 24 hours after discharge, operation information, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and clinical outcomes in hospital (postoperative complications, hospitalization expenditures and postoperative hospital stay) were collected. Three months after discharge, clinical outcomes out of hospital (hospital readmissions and mortality) were collected. Multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the independent predictors for clinical outcomes.

A total of 263 patients were finally included in the study, with the average age being 62.44 years. The prevalence of sarcopenia risk ranged from 3.42% to 73.76%. For the above five sarcopenia screening tools, multivariate analyses showed that sarcopenia risk indicated by SARC-CalF was an independent predictor for postoperative complications (OR=3.145 [95%CI: 0.594, 16.665], P=0.037), prolonged postoperative hospital stay (B=2.383 [95%CI: 0.377, 4.388], P=0.020), increased hospitalization expenditures (B=1.305 [95%CI: 0.402, 2.208], P=0.005) and 3-month hospital readmissions (HR=3.626 [95%CI: 1.126, 11.676], P=0.031). Sarcopenia risk indicated by Ishii score chart was an independent predictor for postoperative complications (OR=6.491 [95%CI: 1.514, 27.840], P=0.012) and hospitalization expenditures (B=0.767 [95%CI: 0.065, 1.469], P=0.032). Sarcopenia risk indicated by MSRA-7 was an independent predictor for prolonged postoperative hospital stay (B=1.636 [95%CI: 0.119, 3.153], P=0.035)and increased hospitalization expenditures (B=0.831 [95%CI: 0.146, 1.516], P=0.018).

Among the above five sarcopenia screening tools, SARC-CalF seemed to have better predictive values on clinical outcomes. Preoperative gastric cancer patients with sarcopenia risk indicated by SARC-CalF could have a higher risk of postoperative complications, prolonged postoperative hospital stay, increased hospitalization expenditures and 3-month hospital readmissions.