Sarcopenia is a Novel Predictor of the Need for Rescue Therapy in Hospitalized Ulcerative Colitis Patients.

Background: Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) affects one in four patients with UC. Clinical parameters perform modestly in predicting need for rescue therapy. Sarcopenia and visceral adiposity predict natural history in Crohn's disease, but the role of such metabolic factors on ASUC outcomes is unknown.

Aim: To define the effect of sarcopenia and visceral adiposity on outcomes in ASUC.

Methods: We studied patients hospitalized for ASUC who underwent an abdominal CT scan during the hospitalization. Quantification of skeletal muscle mass and visceral adiposity was performed by radiologists blinded to the outcome. Sarcopenia was defined as a skeletal muscle index < 55 cm2/m2 for men and < 39 cm2/m2 for women. The primary outcome of interest was need for medical or surgical rescue therapy.

Results: Our study included 89 patients with ASUC among whom 39 (43.8%) patients required medical rescue therapy or surgery. Two-thirds of the cohort (70%) met the definition of sarcopenia (81% men, 48% women). Patients with sarcopenia had similar disease-characteristics and laboratory parameters as those with a normal muscle mass. However, a larger proportion of patients with sarcopenia required rescue therapy compared to those without (56% vs 28%, multivariable Odds ratio (OR) 3.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12 - 14.1). Visceral (p=0.23) or subcutaneous adiposity (p=0.53) did not predict need for rescue therapy.

Conclusions: Sarcopenia as determined on abdominal CT was a novel predictor of need for rescue therapy in hospitalized UC.