In assessing human health physicians should consider the state of his muscles. This is indicated by the results of a major study published in opublikowaniu the journal Annals of Medicine. The review suggests that in people with less muscle mass, more frequent surgical and postoperative complications, longer stay at the hospital, they have lower quality of life and not only.
On average, adults go to the doctor about three times a year. During the visit they generally measure indicators such as blood pressure, pulse and weight, but do they reflect a complete picture of the health of a person?
The researchers analyzed data from other studies conducted in the course of a year (January 2016-January 2017) including more than 140 trials in inpatient and outpatient institutions. Data from this study show that muscle mass has a lot to say about the state of health of a person, especially if he suffers from some chronic disease.
- A study published in the journal of the American medical Association (JAMA), showed that in women with breast cancer, but with more muscle mass 60% higher chances of survival.
- Patients in the ICU with a relatively large amount of muscle mass spend less time on a ventilator and less time in the office and they have overall great survivability.
- People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have more muscle mass have a better outcome of the disease and they have less likelihood of developing osteopenia or osteoporosis.
- As for patients requiring constant care, the study showed that people with lower muscle mass, usually suffer from more severe forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Muscle mass should be considered as a new indicator, important for human health. If doctors can identify and treat patients with reduced muscle mass, can significantly improve their health. Fortunately, modern technical achievements facilitate practical measurement of muscle mass – guaritore Prado (Carla Prado), assistant Professor, University of Alberta (University of Alberta) and the main author of the article.
For decades, doctors have relied primarily on indicators of body mass index (BMI) to assess the health of a person, mainly because it is simple enough to calculate. But this figure may be misleading because it does not distinguish between muscle and fat mass. Insufficient muscle mass may occur at any weight, so someone with normal weight may seem healthy, although in reality he has a lack of muscle mass. Although there already exist some tools to calculate the mass of the constituent parts of the body, including muscle mass, which can be regularly used in medical institutions, physicians can also use questionnaires and other simple methods for determining people at risk.
Even something as simple as the strength of a handshake person, can say a lot about his General state of health, and it’s never too late to restore muscle mass using good nutrition and exercise, says Suzette Pereira (Pereira Suzette), co-author of the study.
Dmitry Kolesnik