Abstract: Objective To compare the application effect of five screening tools for sarcopenia in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. Methods A survey was conducted in 340 patients who received MHD treatment in blood purification centre of Qingdao municipal hospital by convenience sampling from October 2020 to April 2021. Strength, assistance with walking, rise from a chair, climb stairs and falls (SARC-F) questionnaire, SARC-F combined with calf circumference (SARC-CalF) questionnaire, SARC-F adding elderly and body mass index information (SARC-F+EBM) questionnaire, mini sarcopenia risk assessment-7 items (MSRA-7) questionnaire, mini sarcopenia risk assessment-5 items (MSRA-5) questionnaire were used for screening. Receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated using SPSS 22.0 and MedCalc 19.6 software. The optimal cut-off value of five screening tools were determined according to the Yoden index. The performance indicators of five screening tools at the original cut-off value and the optimal cut-off value were calculated respectively. Results Eighty-four (24.71%) MHD patients were diagnosed as sarcopenia. AUC of five screening tools in MHD patients ranged from 0.759 to 0.872. The AUC of SARC-CalF questionnaire was larger than that of SARC-F questionnaire (Z2.506, P0.012), SARC-F+EBM questionnaire (Z3.451, P0.001), MSRA-7 questionnaire (Z2.841, P0.005), MSRA-5 questionnaire (Z2.248, P0.025). Furthermore, its sensitivity (78.57%) and specificity (89.84%) were high with the optimal cut-off value being 11 points. Conclusion SARC-CalF questionnaire has the highest accuracy of all screening tools and has high sensitivity and specificity at the optimal cut-off value, so it is more suitable for being used to screening the risk of sarcopenia in MHD patients than the other four screening tools.

Key words: Maintenance hemodialysis, Sarcopenia, Screening, Diagnostic test