ReviewActa physiologica (Oxford, England)2021
Pathophysiological mechanisms explaining poor clinical outcome of older cancer patients with low skeletal muscle mass.
Review in Acta physiologica (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictive value of osteopenia as prognostic marker for survival and recurrence in patients with gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Low skeletal muscle mass predicts treatment response in oncology: a meta-analysis.European radiology · 2023Pooled it
- Prognostic impact of sarcopenia in patients with head and neck cancer treated with surgery or radiation: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Computed tomography-derived body composition and early changes predict outcomes of first-line chemo-immunotherapy in recurrent/metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.The oncologist · 2026Article
- Short-Term Biceps Muscle Wasting Assessed by Serial Ultrasound as a Predictor of Survival Duration in Terminally Ill Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Exercise interventions remodel the aging microenvironment to improve prognosis in older patients with cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Estimating vastus lateralis muscle volume from a single ultrasound image.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Achieving textbook outcome in liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: malnutrition's pivotal role.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2025Article
- Insights on strength training, during chemotherapy treatment, for breast cancer.Gland surgery · 2025Article
- Association of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index and Postoperative Complications in Head and Neck Cancer.Journal of nutrition and metabolism · 2025Article
- Clinical significance of sarcopenia in children with neuroblastic tumors.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Observational
- The relationship between prognosis and temporal muscle thickness in 102 patients with glioblastoma.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- CT-based muscle and adipose measurements predict prognosis in patients with digestive system malignancy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The prognostic utility of temporalis muscle thickness measured on magnetic resonance scans in patients with intra-axial malignant brain tumours: A systematic review and meta-analysis.World neurosurgery: X · 2024Review
- Article
- Visceral Obesity and a High Glasgow Prognostic Score Are Key Prognostic Factors for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treated with First Line Chemotherapy.Journal of the anus, rectum and colon · 2024Article
- Association of Motor Function With Cognitive Trajectories and Structural Brain Differences: A Community-Based Cohort Study.Neurology · 2023Article
- Impact of skeletal muscle mass on the prognosis of patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.International journal of clinical oncology · 2023Article
- Muscle mass ratio in male gastric cancer patients as an independent predictor of postoperative complications after minimally invasive distal gastrectomy.Surgical endoscopy · 2023Article
- C-Reactive Protein Is Associated with Physical Fitness in Breast Cancer Survivors.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Low skeletal muscle mass is highly prevalent in older cancer patients and affects 5% to 89% depending on the type and stage of cancer. Low skeletal muscle mass is associated with poor clinical outcomes such as post-operative complications, chemotherapy toxicity and mortality in older cancer patients. Little is known about the mediating pathophysiological mechanisms. In this review, we summarize proposed pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the association between low skeletal muscle mass and poor clinical outcomes in older cancer patients including a) systemic inflammation; b) insulin-dependent glucose handling; c) mitochondrial function; d) protein status and; e) pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs. The mechanisms of altered myokine balance negatively affecting the innate and adaptive immune system, and altered pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs leading to a relative overdosage of anticancer drugs are best-substantiated. The effects of glucose intolerance and circulating mitochondrial DNA as a consequence of low skeletal muscle mass are topics of interest for future research. Restoring myokine balance through physical exercise, exercise mimetics, neuro-muscular activation and adapting anticancer drug dosing on skeletal muscle mass could be targeted approaches to improve clinical outcomes in older cancer patients with low skeletal muscle mass.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.