Muscle area and density and risk of all-cause mortality: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis
Britta Larsen Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental Articles in Press E-mail Alert - July 24, 2020
Highlights
• Abdominal muscle area and density were measured in adults via CT scan
• All-cause mortality was measured over 11 years of follow-up
• Baseline muscle density was robustly and inversely associated with mortality
• Muscle density was more protective for men than for women
• Baseline muscle area was not associated with mortality for men or women
Background
Lean muscle plays critical roles in physical functioning and metabolism. However, little is known regarding associations between muscle and mortality in adults.
Objective
The purpose was to evaluate associations between abdominal muscle quantity (area) and quality (density) with risk of all-cause mortality in a diverse cohort free of cardiovascular disease.
Design
Data were taken from the Abdominal Body Composition, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Disease ancillary study of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis prospective cohort study. Participants were adults (45–85 years) free of extant cardiovascular disease, and of Hispanic, African American, Chinese, or Caucasian descent. Of the original 6814 MESA participants, a random, representative sample ( n = 1974) participated in the ancillary body composition study. Abdominal muscle area and density were measured from computed tomography scans spanning L2-L4. Muscle density was measured as attenuation in Hounsfield units, and area was quantified as cm 2. Gender-stratified cox proportional hazard models assessed the risk of all-cause mortality across gender-specific quartiles of muscle area and density adjusting for confounders, with area and density entered simultaneously.
Results
At baseline, the mean age for men ( n = 946) and women ( n = 955) was 61.5 and 62.5 years and median follow-up time was 10.6 and 10.9 years, respectively. Muscle density was inversely associated with mortality, with the highest quartile of density showing a 73% reduction in risk for men (HR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.14–0.51; p-trend<0.001) and 57% reduction for women (HR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.18–1.01; p-trend = 0.04) compared to the lowest quartile when adjusting for mortality risk factors, lifestyle, BMI and visceral fat. There was no association between muscle area and all-cause mortality for men (p-trend = 0.58) or women (p-trend = 0.47).
Conclusions
Greater abdominal muscle density, but not muscle area, is associated with markedly lower risk of all-cause mortality across a decade of follow up. Muscle quality may be a powerful predictor of mortality in community dwelling adults.