Determination of frailty and sarcopenia rates in newly diagnosed 65-year-old malignant patients and investigation of relationship between them

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the frailty and sarcopenia rates in newly diagnosed malignant patients over 65 years of age, to examine the influencing factors and to investigate the relation between sarcopenia and frailty. Method: The study was a cross-sectional-descriptive type and the sample consisted of 204 elderly patients who applied to Dokuz Eylül University Hospital's Day Treatment Center between December 2018 and April 2019 and who were eligible to participate in the study. In the study, 'Descriptive Features Questionnaire' which prepared in accordance with the literature, 'Modified Charlson Comorbidity Index' and 'Edmonton Frailty Scale' were used. In addition, Body Analyzer, hand dynamometer, chronometer, portable height measurer and tape measure were used for the measurement of sarcopenia. Percentage calculations, mean, t-test, Mann-Whitney-U, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the data. Results: It was determined that 12.26% of the patients who participated in our study were frail. There was a correlation positive, statistically significant between the mean scores EFS of the patients and age (r = 0.256, p <0.001). There was a negative, statistically significant correlation between the mean scores EFS and education years (r = -0.165, p = 0.018). There was a significant difference between the mean scores EFS and the sex of the patients (p = 0.013), the people they lived together (p = 0.016) and their marital status (p = 0.046). In our study, 6.4% of the patients were sarcopenic. A statistically significant difference was found between sarcopenia status and age (p = 0.021), the people they lived together (p = 0.014) and smoking (p = 0.044). In addition, it was found that the presence of sarcopenia significantly affected the level of frailty. Conclusion: Frailty and sarcopenia screening in elderly cancer patients is the two important syndrome to be determined. In addition, the presence of sarcopenia in our study was found to increase the fragility of 5.3 times (β = 5.344). Key Words: Sarcopenia, Frailty, Malignancy, Prevalence.