Associations of sarcopenia and malnutrition with 30-day in-hospital morbidity and mortality after cardiac surgery

Sarcopenia and malnutrition often occur simultaneously in adults with cardiovascular diseases. Our objective was to determine the associations of preoperative sarcopenia and malnutrition with major adverse cardiac and cerebral events (MACCE) after cardiac surgery. We retrospectively analysed 154 consecutive patients who underwent elective cardiac surgery between January 2015 and June 2018 at two institutions in Japan. Sarcopenia and nutritional status were preoperatively assessed by bilateral psoas muscle volume index (PMVI) using CT scans and the prognostic nutritional index (PNI), respectively. The median age in the total cohort was 69 years, and 43% were women. Within 30 days after surgery, 20 patients developed in-hospital MACCE and seven patients died of any cause. Low PMVI (