JPGN reports · 4 authors, 2 centres
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In an observational longitudinal study of 11 children with end-stage chronic liver disease, 36% were sarcopenic by appendicular lean mass index while all had normal fat mass index, and body composition after transplant was associated with length of hospital stay but not with 1-year outcomes.
Eleven children with end-stage chronic liver disease underwent whole-body DXA body composition assessment before and approximately one year after liver transplantation. Four of eleven patients (36%) were sarcopenic at baseline, defined as appendicular lean mass index SD score below −1.96, while all patients had normal fat mass index SD scores. There was a strong negative correlation between fat mass index SD score and height SD score. Trunk lean mass index SD score decreased significantly from 1.20 to −0.51 after transplant. Body mass index SD score correlated negatively with days to discharge, with lower BMI associated with longer hospital stays; 66.7% of patients discharged after 16 days were sarcopenic compared to 22.2% discharged within 16 days. All nine transplanted patients were alive with normal graft function at one-year follow-up regardless of pre-transplant body composition. Limitations include the very small sample size of 11 patients, which affects generalizability.
