• Chao Sun, Tianming Zhao, Wanting Yang, Gaoyue Guo, Han Wang, Chaoqun Li, Yangyang Hui, Binxin Cui, Xiaoyu Wang, Xiaofei Fan, and Xingliang Zhao.
• Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Anshan Road 154, Heping District, Tianjin 300052, China.
• Postgrad Med J. 2023 Dec 21; 100 (1179): 121912-19.

BackgroundMyosteatosis indicates pathological fat infiltration in muscles and is regarded as a distinct disease from sarcopenia. This muscular condition exhibits a link to muscle fiber disarrangement coinciding with disrupted muscle contractility and weakened mechanical action, mirrored as decreased muscle quality. However, the relationship between handgrip strength (HGS) and computed tomography-defined myosteatosis among cirrhosis is unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between HGS and myosteatosis and determine gender-specific cutoffs regarding HGS to identify myosteatotic subjects.MethodsWe prospectively recruited 221 cirrhotic patients. The presence of myosteatosis was determined according to intramuscular adipose tissue content. The relationship between HGS and myosteatosis was evaluated according to Spearman correlation coefficient, area under the ROC curve, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Moreover, a model based on the classification and regression tree method was generated.ResultsOur results showed that HGS exhibits modestly negative correlation with intramuscular adipose tissue content in the entire cohort (rs = -0.269, P < .001) and across diverse subgroups precluding extremely deteriorating conditions. After controlling for multiple clinical features and biochemical parameters, HGS (odds ratio = 0.921, P = .010) was independently associated with myosteatosis in addition to age and body mass index. On applying the Japan Society of Hepatology-recommended cutoffs, an area under the ROC curve of HGS was 0.627 with a sensitivity of 77.4% and a specificity of 47.9%. The decision tree including body mass index and low HGS correctly classified ~85% of the cases in development and validation sets.ConclusionsHGS was in close relation to myosteatosis among inpatients with cirrhosis.© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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