Prevalence and Association of Sarcopenia with Mortality in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the association of sarcopenia defined on computed tomography (CT) head and neck with survival in head and neck cancer patients.

Following a PROSPERO-registered protocol, two blinded reviewers extracted data and evaluated the quality of the included studies using the Quality In Prognostic Studies (QUIPS) tool, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) framework. A meta-analysis was conducted using maximally adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with the random-effects model. Heterogeneity was measured using the I² statistic and was investigated using meta-regression and subgroup analyses where appropriate.

From 37 studies (11,181 participants), sarcopenia was associated with poorer overall survival (HR 2.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.81–2.45; p < 0.01), disease-free survival (HR 1.76, 95% CI 1.38–2.24; p < 0.01), disease-specific survival (HR 2.65, 95% CI 1.80–3.90; p < 0.01), progression-free survival (HR 2.24, 95% CI 1.21–4.13; p < 0.01) and increased chemotherapy or radiotherapy toxicity (risk ratio 2.28, 95% CI 1.31–3.95; p < 0.01). The observed association between sarcopenia and overall survival remained significant across different locations of cancer, treatment modality, tumor stages and geographical region, and did not differ between univariate and multivariate HRs. Statistically significant correlations were observed between the C3 and L3 cross-sectional area, skeletal muscle mass, and skeletal muscle index.

Among patients with head and neck cancers, CT-defined sarcopenia was consistently associated with poorer survival and greater toxicity.