Sarcopenia is poor risk for unfavorable short- and long-term outcomes in stage I non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia characterized by skeletal muscle loss may influence postoperative outcomes through physical decline and weakened immunity. We aimed to investigate clinical significance of sarcopenia in resected early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 315 consecutive patients with pathologic stage I NSCLC who had undergone lobectomy with systematic nodal dissection. Sarcopenia was defined as the lowest quartile of psoas muscle area on the 3rd vertebra on the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) image. Clinicopathological variables were used to investigate the correlation to postoperative complications as well as overall and recurrence-free survival. RESULTS: Upon multivariable analysis, male sex [odds ratio (OR) =5.780, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.681–12.500, P