Sarcopenia in COPD patients: Prevalence, patients’ characteristics and predictive factors

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Taking into consideration multifactorial origin of sarcopenia and extrapulmonary manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), our study aimed to determine the prevalence and predictive factors for sarcopenia among COPD patients. METHODS We examined 190 patients with COPD in Ukraine and Poland using bioelectric impedance analysis, hand-grip dynamometry, 6MWT and several questionnaires to assess clinical characteristics of the patients. RESULTS Sarcopenia was detected in 25.3% of all patients with COPD. There was a significant difference between patients with and without sarcopenia in age, acute exacerbations of COPD, CAT, FEV1, BODE and CCI, Borg scope (post 6MWT), hand-grip strength, BMI, fat mass index, level of visceral fat, fat percentage, skeletal muscle index, gait speed, and 6MWT distance. According to regression analysis, factors related to sarcopenia were body mass index, visceral fat level, daily physical activity, percentage of fat and GOLD 3 airflow limitation. CONCLUSIONS Sarcopenia affected almost every fourth COPD patient and was associated with low BMI, high level of visceral fat and percentage of body fat, limited physical activity, and severe airflow limitation.