Evaluation of the effect of sarcopenia and frailty on quality of life in older hemodialysis patients

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia and frailty on the quality of life of older hemodialysis patients. Methods: Seventy hemodialysis patients aged ⩾60 years were assessed. Daily living activities (Katz Index), depression (Yesavage Scale), frailty (Fried’s Criteria), and sarcopenia (EWGSOP2) were evaluated. Quality of life was measured using the KDQOL-36 questionnaire. Results: The median age was 67 years, and 50% were female. Nineteen patients (27.1%) were partially dependent, 71.4% were pre-frail, and 15.7% were frail. Probable sarcopenia was detected in 77.1%, and sarcopenia in 8.6% of patients. Sarcopenia was associated with older age, higher dependency, depression, lower income, and frailty ( p < 0.05). It was also related to the KDQOL-36 physical component ( p = 0.031), while frailty correlated with the symptom component ( p = 0.047). Conclusion: Frailty and sarcopenia are common in older hemodialysis patients and adversely affect their quality of life.