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Updated: Aug 5, 2025
3D Ultrasound Imaging: Fast and Cost-effective Morphometry of Musculoskeletal Tissue
Published on: November 27, 2017
Relationship between Muscle Mass, Bone Density and Vascular Calcifications in Elderly People with SARS-CoV-2
Rossella Del Toro1, Francesco Palmese1,2, Francesco Feletti3,4
1Department of Primary Health Care, Internal Medicine Unit Addressed to Frailty and Aging, Santa Maria delle Croci Hospital, AUSL Romagna, 48121 Ravenna, Italy.
Background:
Little is known about the changes in organs and tissues that may make elder patients more vulnerable to acute stressors such as SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods:
In 80 consecutive elderly patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, we evaluated the association between the descending thoracic aorta calcium score, L1 bone density and T12 skeletal muscle density measured on the same scan by high-resolution computed tomography.
Results:
At median regression, the ln-transformed DTA calcium score was inversely associated with L1 bone density (-0.02, 95%CI -0.04 to -0.01 ln-Agatston units for an increase of 1 HU) and with T12 muscle density (-0.03, -0.06 to -0.001 ln-Agatston units for an increase of 1 HU). At penalized logistic regression, an increase of 1 ln-Agatston unit of DTA calcium score was associated with an OR of death of 1.480 (1.022 to 2.145), one of 1 HU of bone density with an OR of 0.981 (0.966 to 0.996) and one of 1 HU of muscle density with an OR of 0.973 (0.948 to 0.999). These relationships disappeared after correction for age and age was the stronger predictor of body composition and death.
Conclusions:
Age has a big effect on the relationship between vascular calcifications, L1 bone density and T12 muscle density and on their relationship with the odds of dying.
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