AB178. SOH25_AB_130. Impact of sarcopenia on post-operative outcomes in breast cancer patients

Background: Sarcopenia is an age-related progressive loss of muscle mass and function. There is growing research that suggests sarcopenic patients experience worse outcomes post-operatively. Research on sarcopenia’s impact on post-operative outcomes in breast cancer patients remains limited. The purpose of this study is to systematically assess the existing literature.

Methods: A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)-compliant systematic literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase and was undertaken using the terms sarcopenia and “breast cancer” and surgery and outcomes. This yielded 73 papers after the removal of duplicates. Following screening and review of full texts, 6 papers were ultimately included in data collection, which focused on patient demographics, diagnostic measures of sarcopenia, and post-operative outcomes. Descriptive statistical analysis was subsequently performed in Excel.

Results: The papers included 1,523 total patients, all of whom were female. The weighted average age was 49.4 years. The weighted average body mass index (BMI) was 26.17 kg/m². Patients were distributed across stages, with 551 stage III patients, 425 stage II, 299 stage I, and 248 stage IV patients. A total of 508 patients were identified as sarcopenic. The most commonly reported outcome measure was skeletal muscle index, but diagnostic cutoffs varied significantly. Reported outcome measures were inconsistent across papers.

Conclusions: The included papers were heterogeneous, with differing diagnostic methods and reported outcome measures. No papers reported data on muscle mass and muscle function as recommended by the European Working Group on sarcopenia in older people. Current research does not support conclusions on the impact of sarcopenia on post-operative outcomes in breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Breast cancer; geriatrics; post-operative; sarcopenia; systematic review