Association between the development of intensive care unit-acquired weakness and body composition at intensive care unit admission: A descriptive study

Purpose: To evaluate differences in body composition at intensive care unit (ICU) admission between patients with and without ICU-acquired weakness (ICU-AW).

Materials and methods: This single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted at Tsukuba Memorial Hospital's mixed ICU in Japan. We included patients who could walk unassisted before admission, received rehabilitation post-admission, and survived for at least 48 h. Body composition was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) at ICU admission. Patients were classified into ICU-AW and non-ICU-AW groups, and their characteristics, outcomes, and body compositions were compared.

Results: Of the 282 patients analyzed, 28 (9.9 %) developed ICU-AW. ICU-AW patients were older (79 [72-86] vs. 70 [61-77], P < 0.01) and had higher SOFA scores (8 [5-13][ vs. 3 [2-6], P < 0.01). BIA showed a higher extracellular water to total body water ratio (0.408 [0.391-0.414] vs. 0.388 [0.380-0.400], P < 0.01) and a lower phase angle (3.7 [3.3-4.9] vs. 4.9 [4.2-5.7], P < 0.01) in the ICU-AW group. Skeletal muscle mass was similar between groups (23.2 [18.9-26.0] vs. 24.8 [20.5-28.3], P = 0.07).

Conclusions: ICU-AW patients had poorer cellular nutritional status but similar skeletal muscle mass at ICU admission compared to non-ICU-AW patients.