title: Body composition by bioelectrical impedance predicts mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.
abstract: Pulmonary rehabilitation is recommended in international treatment guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). No one has however studied the effect on long-term mortality. The aim of the current study was to study the mortality in a sample of patients with severe COPD included in a 1-year multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. Body composition was assessed at baseline using bioelectrical impedance. Mortality was studied in 86 patients using the Cox proportional hazards model. Forty-seven (55%) of the patients died during the mean follow-up time which was almost 6 years. Risk of mortality increased with increasing age, increasing number of hospital days the year before inclusion and men had higher mortality risk than women. The mortality risk decreased with increasing % reference body weight, increasing fat-free mass index (FFMI), increasing FEV(1) and increasing 6-min walking distance. Gender, age and FFMI continued to be statistical significant predictors of mortality when controlling for the other baseline variables in a multivariate analysis. To conclude, body composition, measured by bioelectrical impedance and presented as FFMI, is an independent predictor of mortality in COPD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Institute of Internal Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, P.O. Box 459, 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. frode.slinde@nutrition.gu.se
authors.forename: Frode
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Slinde
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grönberg
authors.forename: Carl-Peter
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Engström
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rossander-Hulthén
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D001823:Body Composition; D002423:Cause of Death; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011379:Prognosis; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis