Doctor and patient perceptions of sarcopenia in community-based primary care clinics: a questionnaire survey

Our study aims to examine perceptions of sarcopenia among doctors and patients for improved management strategies in the future.

We analyzed nine matched items from separate surveys involving 80 community-based primary care doctors, recruited online (55%) and offline (45%), and 80 community-dwelling older patients who visited 6 of the 80 primary care clinics in South Korea.

Doctors had a mean age of 58.3 ± 9.1 years, with 17.5% women; patients had a mean age of 74.1 ± 6.1 years, with 61.3% women. Twenty-eight patients (35.4%) had heard of sarcopenia, while only 19 doctors (23.8%) knew the diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia. Patients were more likely to believe they had sarcopenia than doctors assumed their patients had sarcopenia (patients, 35%; doctors, 16.9%; P = 0.0039). Patients desired more exercise and nutritional education than doctors reported they could provide (all P < 0.01). More patients preferred regular text messages for exercise or nutritional education (for exercise: patients 16.5%, doctors 5.8%, P = 0.0428; for nutrition: patients 17.1%, doctors 4.4%, P = 0.0154). Many patients were unaware of available community services for sarcopenia management (patients 48.8%, doctors 10.0%, P < 0.001).

Both patients and doctors in community-based primary care clinics lacked awareness of sarcopenia. Significant discrepancies existed between the exercise and nutritional education patients desired and what doctors could provide. These findings can inform the development of sarcopenia management programs in primary care clinics.