Objective To assess the accuracy of Ishii′s score in the screening of sarcopenia in institutionalized elderly. Methods A total of 386 institutionalized elderly were assessed with the Ishii′s score. Using the reference diagnosis recommended by the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia, the sensitivity, specificity and ROC curve were used to evaluate the accuracy of Ishii′s score. Results The prevalence of sarcopenia was 49.7%, involving 91 males and 101 females. The area under the ROC curve for men was 0.844 (95%CI:0.786-0.902) and that for women was 0.806 (95%CI:0.748- 0.863). The results showed that the Ishii′s score reached the highest Youden′s index when a score of 137 was set as the cutoff value for men and 161 for women. Conclusion The Ishii′s score might facilitate the early detection of sarcopenia in institutionalized elderly.