Sun G, et al. - Using PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science databases, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate if sarcopenia diagnosed with the third lumbar vertebra skeletal muscle index (L3 SMI) can predict prognosis for colorectal cancer (CRC) subjects. For this investigation, 12 studies including 5,337 subjects were involved. When compared to non-sarcopenia patients, CRC patients with sarcopenia have longer hospital stays, higher incidence of total postoperative morbidity, mortality, and infection, but not anastomosis leakage or intestinal obstruction. The findings from the present study suggested that, for non-metastatic CRC patients, sarcopenia diagnosed with L3 SMI may be a negative predictor of postoperative and survival outcomes.