ArticleCureus2026
Defining Sarcopenia Using the Third Lumbar Vertebra (L3) Skeletal Muscle Index (L3SMI): Establishing Imaging Biomarker Standards for the Middle Eastern Population.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study aimed to define sarcopenia criteria using the third lumbar vertebra (L3) skeletal muscle index (L3SMI) in Middle Eastern individuals. In a retrospective review, abdominal CT imaging from 200 kidney donors was analyzed. Demographic data, BMI, body surface area, L3 skeletal muscle area (L3SMA), and L3SMI were evaluated. Mean ± SD L3SMA values were 98.63 ± 14.9 cm² for females (n = 48) and 157.52 ± 25.6 cm² for males (n = 152); corresponding L3SMI values were 40.9 ± 5.6 and 55.3 ± 8.8 cm²/m², respectively. Applying Western sarcopenia cutoffs classified 47.9% of females (n = 23/48) and 26.3% of males (n = 40/152) as sarcopenic. Defining cutoffs as two SDs below the mean yielded 29.7 cm²/m² for females and 37.7 cm²/m² for males. These gender-specific cutoffs may aid in the diagnosis of sarcopenia, support clinical risk stratification, and inform future population-based screening strategies in the Middle Eastern region. Larger multiethnic studies are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.