To explore whether sarcopenia is associated with depression. electronic literature databases from PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Google Scholar were searched. A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies was conducted. community and outpatient clinic. people with and without diagnoses of sarcopenia. outcome measures of depression. about 15 articles were included, 5 of which were retrieved for narrative review. The crude odds ratios (ORs) between sarcopenia and depression were extracted from the remaining 10 studies, 6 of which also included adjusted ORs. Sarcopenia was associated with depression without adjusting covariates (crude OR, 1.640; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.247–2.155). After adjusting for potential confounders such as age, gender, cognitive performance and physical activity, sarcopenia still demonstrated a significant positive association with depression (adjusted OR, 1.821; 95% CI, 1.160–2.859). A stratified analysis showed that the studies that used bioelectrical impedance analysis for measurement of body composition tended to have an elevated association between sarcopenia and depression compared with those that used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry or equation estimation. sarcopenia was independently associated with depression. The causal relationship between the two clinical conditions requires future validation with cohort studies.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has multiple prognostic factors, and there is an increase in knowledge about the body composition and physical status of patients with HCC. The present meta-analysis aimed to explore whether loss of skeletal muscle mass is associated with mortality and tumor recurrence in patients with HCC. Method: A systematic search was conducted for published literature using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus. We included cohort or case-control studies investigating patients with HCC. The primary and secondary outcomes were the associations of loss of skeletal muscle mass with overall survival and tumor recurrence, respectively, expressed by a summary hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Result: A total of 13 studies comprising 3,111 patients were included. The summary HRs calculated by either univariate or multivariate analysis both suggested a significant association between sarcopenia and all-cause mortality (crude HR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.74-2.38; adjusted HR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.60-2.37). Similarly, loss of skeletal muscle mass was associated with tumor recurrence (crude HR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.44-2.37; adjusted HR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.27-2.45). The stratified analysis showed that treatment types and inclusion of body mass index or body weight in the Cox regression model did not modify both clinical outcomes. With an increase in cut-off values of muscle mass on computed tomography images (especially for male patients), there was an insignificant trend of stronger associations between loss of skeletal muscle mass and all-cause mortality. Conclusion: Loss of skeletal muscle mass is associated with increased all-cause mortality and tumor recurrence in patients with HCC. Further prospective studies incorporating measurements of muscle strength and physical function are warranted to see whether inclusion of both parameters better predicts the outcome than use of muscle mass only.