title: Muscle wasting in young patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Muscle wasting can be accelerated by chronic diseases such as heart failure and is one of the major causes of disability, morbidity, and mortality in this population. We aimed to investigate the incidence of muscle wasting and its associated factors in dilated cardiomyopathy patients younger than 55 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between April 2014 and December 2015, all symptomatic patients with a diagnosis of non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy who were referred to heart failure clinic were included in our study. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to evaluate body composition and identify muscle wasting. Muscle mass was calculated as the ratio of an individual's total lean mass of legs and arms (also called appendicular skeletal muscle) to their squared height (kg/m2). The muscle mass values of less than 5.45 kg/m2for women and 7.26 kg/m2for men were considered low.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 55 patients (32 male) were included. The mean (standard deviation) of age was 37.3 (10.1) years, and the mean of left ventricular ejection fraction was 21.4%. Most of the patients were in the New York Heart Association classes of II and II-III. Twenty-six patients (47.3%) met criteria for muscle wasting. Patients with muscle wasting had lower left ventricular ejection fraction, lower 6-min walk distance, and higher New York Heart Association function class and hospitalization rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that muscle wasting might be present in younger patients with heart failure, particularly in those who are in worse clinical condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hazrat Rasoul Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajahmadi
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shemshadi
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Khalilipur
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sepideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taghavi
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maleki
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Malek
authors.affiliation: Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Naderi
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019282:Wasting Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Chronic heart failure; Dilated cardiomyopathy; Muscle wasting; Wasting