Muscle weakness assessment in non-hypoxemic COPD out-patients at tertiary care hospitals

To determine frequency of Muscle Weakness in Non-Hypoxemic COPD out-patients and Comparison with age matched non-COPD Controls.

This cross-sectional study was conducted at OPD of Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and Medicine, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan, during the period 8^th September 2019 till 30^th May 2020. Patients of both genders aged 25-70 years who were satisfying GOLD criteria for COPD and having SpO₂ ≥ 94% were included. An age matched control group was added as control. Hand Grip Strength (HGS) and Chair to Stand time (CST) were recorded.

Two hundred fifty-six patients were inducted with aged and BMI matched group of non-COPD Control patients in ratio of 1:2 (n = 128). Comparison of HGS between Control and COPD Groups showed significant weakness in COPD group. Significant weakness in lower limbs in COPD Group with longer timings to complete the task. Mean FEV₁ had significant low values in COPD Group. Age correlated negatively with HGS & positively with CST. BMI correlated positively with FEV₁ and CST but negatively with HGS. HGS correlated positively with FEV₁ and no correlation was found with CST. No correlation was found of CST with FEV₁.

Muscle weakness in COPD patients was shown by simple validated bedside tools. The older COPD patients had less HGS and were slower in doing CST whereas those COPD ones who had higher FEV₁ had more HGS.