Clinical Impact of Sarcopenia and Sarcopenic Obesity in Acute Pancreatitis: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Background Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a catabolic disease with a risk of prolonged hospital stay. Patients are at risk of sarcopenia. However, the impact of sarcopenia on clinical outcomes post‐AP is poorly explored. Methods A search of PUBMED, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases was performed, and studies published between January 1990 and October 2024 were included. Results Ten studies with 2841 patients with a median age of 56.3 years were included. The number of patients with mild, moderate, and severe AP were 771, 545, and 399, respectively. Nine studies used skeletal muscle mass/skeletal muscle index/skeletal muscle attenuation, and one used visceral fat/muscle mass ratio as indicators of sarcopenia, measuring muscle mass at L3 vertebra or measuring psoas muscle volume. One longitudinal study reported that 80% of patients with severe AP were sarcopenic at 12 months. There was a strong correlation between sarcopenia and adverse clinical outcomes and mortality. There is no data on the impact of sarcopenia on quality of life (QOL). Conclusion This review suggests an association between sarcopenia and the severity of AP in addition to worse postpancreatitis outcomes. Further prospective studies are needed with standardized definitions for sarcopenia with longitudinal follow‐up reporting on QOL.