Sarcopenia is associated with nutritional and inflammatory status in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a new study published in the Annals of Hematology. Nutritional and inflammatory status seems to be an independent prognostic factor for the disease, the study also showed.
The results suggest that improving nutritional parameters should be the goal of personalized medicine for DLBCL.
Read more about DLBCL prognosis
In order to analyze the prognostic effect of sarcopenia, age, and nutritional status in DLBCL patients, a team of researchers from France led by Jardin Fabrice, MD, PhD, assessed 95 DLBCL patients older than age 70 treated with immunochemotherapy. Of these 95 patients, 53 patients (55.8%) were considered sarcopenic.
Patients who were sarcopenic had higher levels of markers of inflammation and lower levels of prealbumin compared to those who were not sarcopenic.
Sarcopenia was also associated with nutritional and inflammatory status. However, it was not associated with severe adverse events and treatment disruptions even though these were more common among patients with high nutritional and inflammatory status.
“Sarcopenia did not appear in this study as a prognostic factor for progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS),” the researchers wrote, though the nutritional and inflammatory status of the patients could predict outcomes with a 2-year PFS rate of 88% in patients who had a nutritional and inflammatory status of 1 or less and a 2-year PFS rate of 49% in those with a nutritional and inflammatory status of more than 1.
Statistical analyses also showed that the nutritional and inflammatory status of patients with DLBCL had a significant effect on PFS as well as OS.
Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength with age.
Nutritional and inflammatory status can be easily calculated from biomarkers of inflammation and nutrition.
Reference
Juliette P, Hélène L, Caroline T, et al. Prognostic relevance of sarcopenia, geriatric, and nutritional assessments in older patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: results of a multicentric prospective cohort study. Ann Hematol. Published online April 14, 2023. doi:10.1007/s00277-023-05200-x
