The Association Between Sarcopenia and Functional Improvement in Older and Younger Patients Who Completed Inpatient Rehabilitation: A Prospective Cohort Study.

The study was done in one inpatient rehabilitation unit, so results may not transfer to other settings or patient mixes. 43 of 300 recruited participants were excluded because they did not complete rehabilitation; those included had lower comorbidity, shorter acute stay, higher admission FIM, and fewer sarcopenia cases, so findings apply mainly to patients who complete inpatient rehabilitation. Only 15 participants with sarcopenia were 65 years or younger and 18 were older than 65, so estimates in small groups are unstable. No adjustment was made for multiple statistical tests, increasing chance of a chance finding. Sarcopenia was measured once on admission, so the study could not tell whether it was acute or chronic. The study observed associations, not caused effects; it did not test treatment for sarcopenia.

The supplied text does not name a funder for this study. Author declarations include unrelated research funding for LC from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and Medical Research Future Fund of Australia; EE's institution receives research funding from Sanofi, Eli Lilly, Gilead, Novo Nordisk and Dimerix, and EE has unrelated research funding from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Sir Edward Weary Dunlop medical research foundation and The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; RM has received research grants from Novo Nordisk, Servier, Medtronic, The Rebecca Cooper Medical Research Foundation, St Vincent's Research Foundation, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Grey Innovations, The Diabetes Australia Research Trust/Program and The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, plus honoraria, advisory board roles, travel support, and principal investigator roles in industry sponsored clinical trials; the remaining authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that sarcopenia improves rehabilitation outcomes or that treating sarcopenia will increase functional gains. This was an observational cohort study, and the older patient association could reflect selection of patients who completed rehabilitation, acute rather than chronic sarcopenia, or other unmeasured factors.