The psoas muscle depletion index is related to the degree of cirrhosis and skeletal muscle loss in patients with end-stage liver disease

Objective: To establish a new psoas muscle depletion index (PDI) from healthy young donors and to explore the correlation between the PDI and the severity of cirrhosis in patients with endstage liver disease (ESLD).

Methods: Clinical data of 461 healthy donors were collected during the period 2014-2019, and clinical data of 331 patients with ESLD were collected during the period 2014-2018. The patients were divided into four groups by PDI severity: PDI ≥ 0.90, PDI = 0.75-0.90, PDI = 0.50-0.75 and PDI ≤ 0.50 (Gsev). Differences in international normalised ratio (INR), total bilirubin and serum creatinine levels, and Child-Pugh (CP) and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores were compared. The sarcopenia incidence according to the PDI and the psoas muscle index (PMI) in different weight groups were also compared.

Results: Gsev had the highest CP (10.2 ± 2.1) and MELD (20.1 ± 7.4) scores and total bilirubin (166.3 ± 192.0 umol/L) and blood creatinine (92.9 ± 90.2 umol/L) levels and the lowest haemoglobin (93.8 ± 21.7 g/L) and blood albumin (30.9 ± 5.8 g/L) levels. Gsev showed significant changes in INR (1.74 ± 0.65) and blood sodium (135.3 ± 5.65 mmol/L). If PDI <0.75 was used as the diagnostic criterion for sarcopenia, the incidence was 53.3% in patients weighing >90 kg and 53.6% in those weighing <60 kg. This differed from the PMI, with an incidence of 3.3% in patients weighing >90 kg.

Conclusions: The PDI had no significant correlation with body height, body weight or body mass index (BMI) in healthy individuals and patients with ESLD. The PDI was significantly correlated with the severity of cirrhosis and loss of skeletal muscle.

Keywords: liver cirrhosis, sarcopenia, donor, psoas muscle index, psoas muscle depletion index.