Table 2 Patients characteristics before liver transplantation in the group of patients below and above the sarcopenia muscle mass cut-off value and below and above the mean muscle radiodensity attenuation (MRA) of this study’s population.

From: Muscle quality determined by computed tomography predicts short-term and long-term survival after liver transplantation

Patient characteristics

Non-sarcopenia† (n = 59), n (%)

Sarcopenia† (n = 93), n (%)

P value

MRA‡ ≥ 38 (n = 61), n (%)

MRA ‡ < 38

(n = 68), n (%)

P-Value

Age (years)

54 (11)

55 (9)

0.577

51 (11)

57 (8)

 < 0.001

Male

38 (64)

71 (76)

0.111

49 (80)

45 (66)

0.071

BMI < 18.5 kg/m2

1 (2)

6 (7)

0.173

2 (3)

4 (5)

0.483

MELD-score

20 (10–30)

21 (13–31)

0.362

18 (12–30)

24 (16–33)

0.039

Etiology of liver disease

 Alcoholic

16 (27)

37 (40)

0.110

18 (30)

26 (38)

0.297

 Viral

18 (31)

16 (17)

0.055

17 (28)

9 (13)

0.039

 Autoimmune

5 (9)

14 (15)

0.232

11 (18)

6 (9)

0.123

 Acute liver failure

7 (12)

2 (2)

0.013

3 (5)

5 (7)

0.567

 NASH

7 (12)

2 (2)

0.013

1 (2)

7 (10)

0.042

 Re-transplantation

3 (5)

7 (8)

0.554

4 (7)

6 (9)

0.631

 Others

3 (5)

15 (16)

0.040

7 (12)

9 (13)

0.762

 Concomitant HCC

24 (41)

25 (27)

0.076

24 (39)

10 (15)

0.002

Decompensation pre-LT

 Hepatic Encephalopathy

28 (48)

50 (54)

0.448

27 (44)

39 (57)

0.139

 Ascites

28 (48)

56 (60)

0.123

26 (43)

44 (65)

0.012

 Variceal bleeding

10 (17)

13 (14)

0.618

8 (13)

13 (19)

0.357

 Hepatorenal syndrome

13 (22)

34 (37)

0.059

13 (21)

29 (43)

0.01

 Serum creatinine (mg/dL)

1.3 (0.9–2.4)

1.5 (1.0–3.0)

0.228

1.3 (1.0–2.2)

1.6 (1.1–5.1)

0.047

 GFR (ml/min)

60.5 (28.2–80.7)

49.5 (19.5–71.4)

0.242

59.6 (33.6–81.6)

42.3 (9.9–67.7)

0.019

 Dialysis pre-LT

11 (19)

21 (23)

0.562

8 (21)

20 (29)

0.025

 CCI pre-LT

0.0 (0–1)

0.0 (0–1)

0.871

0.0 (0–1)

1.0 (0–1)

0.025

 Post-LT ICU-stay (days)

6 (3–15)

8 (4–20)

0.217

6 (3–12)

11.5 (5–23.5)

0.010

 90d Clavien Dindo ≥ IIIb

31 (53)

54 (58)

0.504

29 (48)

48 (71)

0.008

  1. For categorical data absolute and relative frequencies are provided, for normally distributed metric data mean with standard deviation and median with interquartile range for skewed data distribution. Chi-square tests, t-tests, and Mann–Whitney-U-tests were used for group comparison.
  2. BMI body mass index, MELD model of end-stage liver disease, NASH non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, HCC hepatocellular carcinoma, LT liver transplantation, GFR glomerular filtration rate, CCI Charlson comorbidity index, ICU intensive care unit, d days.
  3. †Sarcopenia cut off values by Carey et al.: skeletal muscle index (SMI) women < 39 cm2/m2, SMI men < 50 cm2/m232.
  4. ‡Mean of the MRA in 129 patients with available pre-LT scans in venous scan phase.
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