Skeletal muscle mass and function are affected by pancreatic atrophy, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and poor nutritional status in patients with chronic pancreatitis

Abstract

Background/objective: Previous studies have demonstrated that sarcopenia is frequently observed in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP). However, most studies have defined sarcopenia solely based on skeletal muscle (SM) loss, and muscle weakness such as grip strength (GS) reduction has not been considered. We aimed to clarify whether SM loss and reduced GS have different associations with clinical characteristics and pancreatic imaging findings in patients with CP.

Methods: One hundred two patients with CP were enrolled. We defined SM loss by the SM index at the third lumbar vertebra on CT (<42 cm²/m² for males and <38 cm²/m² for females), and reduced GS by < 28 kg for males and <18 kg for females.

Results: Fifty-seven (55.9 %) patients had SM loss, 21 (20.6 %) had reduced GS, and 17 (16.7 %) had both. Patients with SM loss had lower body mass index, weaker GS, higher Controlling Nutritional Status score, lower serum lipase level, and lower urinary para-aminobenzoic acid excretion rate, suggesting worse nutritional status and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. On CT, main pancreatic duct dilatation and parenchymal atrophy were more frequent in patients with SM loss than in those without it. Patients with reduced GS were older and had worse nutritional status than those without it.

Conclusions: SM loss was associated with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, low nutritional status, and pancreatic imaging findings such as parenchymal atrophy and main pancreatic duct dilatation, whereas older age and low nutritional status led to additional reduced GS.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency; Pancreatitis; Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle loss.