However, the unanswered question is whether the change in muscle mass admission or the absolute muscle mass on admission is the most important predictor of outcome.
Adequate reserves of body protein and fat mass at admission to the ICU may be crucial to recovery and survival.
In the current issue of Critical Care, Weijs and colleagues demonstrate an indirect relationship between skeletal muscle mass on admission to the ICU and mortality.
Firstly, muscle mass on admission to the ICU is a predictor of mortality and should therefore strongly be considered as an outcome measure in interventional studies.
For muscle mass on admission to ICU to be used as part of a clinical practice algorithm in prognostication, multicentre observational prospective studies are essential.
Baseline demographics were recorded, including age, sex, body mass index, admission diagnosis and severity of illness (Acute physiological and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II within first 24 hours of ICU admission).
These data also demonstrate that more than twice as many critical illness survivors with a low muscle mass on admission, compared to those with preserved muscle mass, were discharged to a nursing home.
See related research by Weijs et al., http://ccforum.com/content/18/1/R12 In the current issue of Critical Care, Weijs and colleagues [ 1] demonstrate an indirect relationship between skeletal muscle mass on admission to the ICU and mortality.
Firstly, muscle mass on admission to the ICU is a predictor of mortality and this physiological biomarker should therefore strongly be considered as an outcome measure in interventional studies.
For every patient the following data were routinely documented: age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, admission reason and comorbidities, medication, Acute Physiology and Chronic Evaluation II (APACHE II) score, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and body temperature.
