Does Muscle Wasting Always Mean Muscle Weakness? A Prevalence Study in COPD

Peripheral muscle mass and strength are relevant indicators of COPD survival. Current guidelines recommend to assess muscle strength only in muscle wasted patients. However, a recent study reported quadriceps weakness without muscle wasting (Menon, M et al. Resp. Res.2012, 13:119). Thus, these guidelines raise the risk to miss out some weak patients. In clinical settings, fat-free-mass index (FFMI) is indicated as a simple index to assess muscle wasting. We aimed at determining the prevalence of patients entering in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) a priori not eligible for muscle strength evaluation given the lack of muscle wasting clinical signs.