Objective physical activity level is associated with rectus femoris muscle echo‐intensity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Introduction Skeletal muscle dysfunction is one of the major extrapulmonary complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Some studies have reported a relationship between physical activity (PA) level and skeletal muscle quality assessed by echo‐intensity (EI) in healthy individuals but not in patients with COPD. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between PA level and both skeletal muscle EI and skeletal muscle mass in patients with COPD. Methods We employed a cross‐sectional design. Forty male outpatients with stable COPD were enrolled. Using B‐mode ultrasonography, we measured the rectus femoris muscle cross‐sectional area (RF‐CSA) and EI (RF‐EI). The RF‐CSA and RF‐EI were measured on frozen images using an electronic caliper and 8‐bit gray‐scale analysis, respectively. The objective PA level was determined by monitoring daily step counts and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity time (MVPA) with an activity monitor. A general regression model was used to assess the relationships between PA level and both RF‐CSA and RF‐EI. Age and body mass index (BMI) were adopted as confounding variables. Results Twenty‐five outpatients with stable COPD (age, 70 ± 7 years old; forced expiratory volume in 1 s, 55.0 ± 24.9% of predicted values) were finally enrolled in the present study. Even after adjusting for age and BMI, the daily step counts and MVPA were significantly associated with RF‐EI, and knee extensor force was associated with RF‐CSA. Conclusion The present study showed that PA level was associated with RF‐EI in patients with COPD. In addition, RF‐CSA was associated with knee extensor force. When assessing skeletal muscle using ultrasonography in patients with COPD, we should also assess EI.

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“…Although pulmonary rehabilitation, bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory agents provides the greatest improvement in dyspnea, exercise tolerance, and health-related quality of life, 25 it is very difficult to change physical activity and with poor outcome. 26 Therefore, COPD is a major heterogeneous disease and one of the world’s leading causes of death, and it is urgent for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for COPD.…”

Mediating Role of Echo-Intensity in Sex Differences of Physical Fitness among Children

“…Similarly, EI is a practical method for assessing age-related risks associated with reduced muscle quality [9]. Okura et al found an inverse relationship between physical activity levels and rectus femoris EI in older adult patients [10].…”

MyoVision-US: an Artificial Intelligence-Powered Software for Automated Analysis of Skeletal Muscle Ultrasonography

“…1,2 It has become increasingly popular as an assessment tool to evaluate longitudinal changes in muscle characteristics and to evaluate intervention efficacy in relation to exercise, nutrition and/or pharmacological interventions targeting muscle in healthy and diverse patient populations. 1,[3][4][5][6] Current literature is focused on muscle ultrasound evaluation of the quadriceps muscle group due to its size and importance in physical function, with rectus femoris (RF) muscle thickness considered to be a reliable reflection of muscle strength. [7][8][9] Muscle ultrasound imaging has demonstrated good to excellent inter-and intra-rater reliability and strong criterion validity compared to histochemistry analyses on muscle biopsy in older adults, 10 individuals with myopathic disease, 11 and intensive care unit (ICU) survivors 6-12 months after discharge.…”