Compartments distribution of body composition in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Introduction: Not much is known about the contribution of upper limbs mass for the total muscle mass in COPD patients. Objectives: To identify the distribution of muscle mass in both upper (UL) and lower limbs (LL) of patients with COPD by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)and correlate muscular strength with lean mass index (LMM). Methods: We evaluated 96 patients with COPD and 85 healthy elderly control group-CG, matched for age and sex. Lung function, body composition by DXA and muscle strength of UL and LL were measured. Results: Mean age of COPD was 66.8 (±9.3) and of CG 64.2 (±8.9) years (p=0.064), with a BMI of 27.2 (±5.1) and 29.4 (±4.5) kg/m 2 , respectively (p = 0.002). There was no difference in LMM between the two groups but fat mass was higher in CG in both UL and LL and trunk (p 2 for men and ≥ 5.45 kg/m 2 for women) was lower in men with COPD (7.8 kg/m 2 ±1.1) than in CG (8.4 kg/m 2 ±0.9) (p u003e 0.05); and was lower in the severe and more severe than in the milder and moderate COPD patients (7.5 vs 8.0 kg/m 2 for men and 6.1 vs 6.8 kg/m 2 for women, respectively). There was an association between LMM of the UL (r = 0.5) and LL (r = 0.6) with muscle strength. The specific UL strength for COPD was lower (0.012 ± 0.003 kgf/g of muscle)than for CG (0.013 ± 0.004 kgf/g of muscle) (p Conclusions: LMM and ALMI are decreased in patients with COPD as assessed by DXA, and the muscle loss increases with advancing disease. Specific muscle strength is reduced in UL of patients with COPD sarcopenic may exist in a low percentage in COPD patients.