The objective of the present study was to investigate the incidence of and possible risk factors associated with sarcopenia among cancer patients. Patients with cancer were examined through the use of lumbar magnetic resonance imaging, and clinical data was collected between September and December, 2012, at Jilin Province Tumor Hospital (Changchun, China). The data was subsequently compared between patients with and without sarcopenia. Of the 113 treated cancer patients, 96 patients [39 males (L3 index, <52.4 cm²/m²) and 57 females (L3 index, <38.5 cm²/m²)] suffered from sarcopenia. Overall, the development of sarcopenia was not significantly associated with patient age or treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy (P>0.05). The frequency of treatment-associated complications did not differ significantly between patients with or without sarcopenia. However, males were more inclined to develop sarcopenia than females (P=0.02). Patients with sarcopenia had significantly less lymphocytes than patients without sarcopenia (P=0.03). This was confirmed through multiple logistic regression analyses (P=0.046), which also identified that patients with cancer with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score >2 had a significantly increased risk of developing sarcopenia. Finally, the serum albumin level in sarcopenia patients was 36.18±4.65 g/l, which was not significantly less than that of patients without sarcopenia (39.67±3.69 g/l; P=0.11). The incidence of sarcopenia among patients with cancer is high, particularly for males. Further research with larger sample sizes would be beneficial, with the aim of verifying the results obtained in the present study. During the treatment of patients with sarcopenia, precaution should continue to be taken to prevent associated complications, including infection, diarrhea and myelosuppression.

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