Adductor pollicis muscle thickness has a low association with muscle mass in hospitalized patients.

• Main Authors: Cinthia D. Barbosa, Barbara V. C. Crepaldi, Paula C. Nahas, Luana T. Rossato, Erick P. de Oliveira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asociación Para el Progreso de la Biomedicina 2017-02-01
• Series: Jounal of Negative and No Positive Results
• Subjects: Malnutrition; adductor pollicis muscle; anthropometry
• Online Access: http://www.jonnpr.com/pdf/1212.pdf

Introduction: The adductor pollicis muscle thickness (APMT) is located between two bony structures allowing movement of the thumb. It has been proposed that APMT can be used as a new technique for evaluating muscle mass and, thus, be used in clinical practice as a predictor of muscle mass loss. The purpose of this study was to associate the APMT (alone or plus weight) with muscle mass of hospitalized individuals. Methods: We evaluated 106 hospitalized patients aged 18 to 95 years old, of both sexes. The APMT measurement and anthropometric parameters of upper and lower members, adiposity (fat mass and waist circumference), and muscle mass (kg) were performed. Muscle mass was calculated by Lee et al.’s equation and fat mass by Durnin and Wormersley’s. Results: APMT was positively correlated with muscle mass (r = 0.61; p<0.05). Additionally, after multiple regression analysis, it was noted that APMT explained 37% of the variance in muscle mass (Beta = 0.609, R2 = 0.370, p= 0.000). Furthermore, APMT increased the prediction of muscle mass by 1.77% when used in addition to weight, which explained 70.1% of the variances in muscle mass. Conclusion: Compared with weight, APMT showed a lower association with muscle mass. Therefore, in individuals who can ambulate, weight is a better predictor of muscle mass than APMT.