RT Journal Article T1 Predictors of Sarcopenia in Outpatients with Post-Critical SARS-CoV2 Disease. Nutritional Ultrasound of Rectus Femoris Muscle, a Potential Tool A1 Cornejo Pareja, Isabel María A1 Soler-Beunza, Ana Gloria A1 Vegas-Aguilar, Isabel María A1 Fernández-Jiménez, Rocío A1 Tinahones-Madueño, Francisco José A1 García-Almeida, José Manuel K1 COVID-19 AB Background and Objectives: The loss of muscle mass in post-critical COVID-19 outpatients is difficult to assess due to the limitations of techniques and the high prevalence of obesity. Ultrasound is an emerging technique for evaluating body composition. The aim is to evaluate sarcopenia and its risk factors, determining ultrasound usefulness as a potential tool for this purpose according to established techniques, such as the bioimpedance vector analysis (BIVA), handgrip strength, and timed up-and-go test. Methods: This is a transversal study of 30 post-critical COVID-19 outpatients. We evaluated nutritional status by ultrasound (Rectus Femoris-cross-sectional-area (RF-CSA), thickness, and subcutaneous-adipose-tissue), BIVA, handgrip strength, timed up-and-go test, and clinical variables during admission. Results: According to The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (ESPEN&EASO) Consensus for Sarcopenic and Obesity, in terms of excess fat mass and decreased lean mass, the prevalence of class-1 sarcopenic obesity was 23.4% (n = 7), and class-2 sarcopenic obesity was 33.3% (n = 10) in our study. A total of 46.7% (n = 14) of patients had a handgrip strength below the 10th percentile, and 30% (n = 9) achieved a time greater than 10s in the timed up-and-go test. There were strong correlations between the different techniques that evaluated the morphological (BIVA, Ultrasound) and functional measurements of muscle. Intensive care unit stay, mechanical ventilation, and age all conditioned the presence of sarcopenia in COVID-19 outpatients (R2 = 0.488, p = 0.002). Predictive models for sarcopenic diagnosis based on a skeletal muscle index estimation were established by RF-CSA (R2 0.792, standard error of estimate (SEE) 1.10, p < 0.001), muscle-thickness (R2 0.774, SEE 1.14, p < 0.001), and handgrip strength (R2 0.856, SEE 0.92, p < 0.001). RF-CSA/weight of 5.3 cm2/kg × 100 (...) PB IOAP-MDPI YR 2022 FD 2022-11-24 LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/25918 UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/25918 LA eng NO Cornejo-Pareja I, Soler-Beunza AG, Vegas-Aguilar IM, Fernández-Jiménez R, Tinahones FJ, García-Almeida JM. Predictors of Sarcopenia in Outpatients with Post-Critical SARS-CoV2 Disease. Nutritional Ultrasound of Rectus Femoris Muscle, a Potential Tool. Nutrients. 2022; 14(23):4988. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14234988 NO I.C.-P. was the recipient of a postdoctoral grant (Río Hortega CM 17/00169) and is now the recipient of a postdoctoral grant (Juan Rodes JR 19/00054) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-FEDER. Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga RD 20 ene 2026