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Background/Aims: The ability to readily diagnose sarcopenia and malnutrition in a clinical setting is essential. This study is aimed at clarifying the calf circumference (CC) cut-off values for decreased skeletal muscle mass (SMM), according to the Asian Work Group for Sarcopenia's criteria definition of sarcopenia, and those for European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism-defined malnutrition, in hospitalized Japanese patients. Methods: The study involved 1,164 patients aged ≥ 65 years. Predictive CC cut-off values were determined using receiver operating curve (ROC) analyses. The predictive validity of the cut-off values was confirmed against in-hospital mortality. Results: There were 654 females and 510 males (mean age, 83.5 ± 8.2 years). Decreased SMM and malnutrition were observed in 80.4 and 32.8% of all patients, respectively. ROC analyses identified CCs of ≤ 29 cm (female, area under the curve [AUC] 0.791) and ≤ 30 cm (male, AUC 0.832) as cut-off values for decreased SMM, and CCs of ≤ 26 cm (female, AUC 0.798) and ≤ 28 cm (male, AUC 0.837) for malnutrition. CC cut-off values for SMM and malnutrition were independently correlated with inhospital mortality. Conclusions: The study determined appropriate cut-off values for CC to identify decreased SMM and malnutrition according to the relevant guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dysregulation of pro-inflammatory chemokines is considered a potential mechanism for the development of age-related medical conditions such as frailty. However, evidence linking circulating chemokines with frailty remains lacking. Materials and Methods: We performed a case-control study including 48 cases and 48 controls aged 65–90 years, using the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology outpatient registry data. Cases were outpatients with physical frailty and low habitual daily activity. Controls were robust outpatients who performed habitual daily activities. The Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study criteria was used to diagnose physical frailty, and the modified Baecke questionnaire was used to evaluate habitual daily activities. Serum CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The median age (interquartile range) in cases and controls was 78 (73–83) and 76 (72–80) years, with the proportions of men were 47.9% and 43.8%, respectively. In the logistic regression model with adjustment for age, sex, and other confounding factors, the multivariable odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the highest versus lowest tertile of CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels were 7.90 (1.61–49.80) and 1.61 (0.42–6.30), respectively. However, we did not observe a linear association between CXCL9 levels and physical frailty components. Discussion/Conclusion: Our preliminary data exhibit that circulating CXCL9 levels were positively associated with the odds of physical frailty. However, these findings lack evidence of a dose-response relationship between CXCL9 levels and physical frailty components. Further research with a larger sample size is required to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]