ArticleFrontiers in physiology2021
Intermuscular Adipose Tissue as a Risk Factor for Mortality and Muscle Injury in Critically Ill Patients Affected by COVID-19.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring the association between computed tomography (CT)-derived skeletal muscle mass and short- and long-term mortality in critically ill patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and clinical implications of abnormal body composition phenotypes in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Function Over Mass: A Meta-Analysis on the Importance of Skeletal Muscle Quality in COVID-19 Patients.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- CT-adipose measures identify severe SARS-CoV-2 risk beyond traditional obesity metrics: a C4R cohort study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Myosteatosis: Epidemiological Insights, Functional Decline, and Diagnostic Advances.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Musculoskeletal Sequelae of Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A Systematic Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Observational
- The Link between Inflammation, Lipid Derivatives, and Microbiota Metabolites in COVID-19 Patients: Implications on Eating Behaviors and Nutritional Status.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The effects of myosteatosis on skeletal muscle function in older adults.Physiological reports · 2024Review
- Assessment of body composition in adults hospitalized with acute COVID-19: a scoping review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- Construction of a nomogram for predicting COVID-19 in-hospital mortality: A machine learning analysis.Informatics in medicine unlocked · 2023Article
- Biomarkers extracted by fully automated body composition analysis from chest CT correlate with SARS-CoV-2 outcome severity.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Low skeletal muscle radiodensity and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as predictors of poor outcome in patients with COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Prognostic Impact of Myosteatosis on Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The Role of Obesity, Body Composition, and Nutrition in COVID-19 Pandemia: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Neurological consequences of COVID-19 and brain related pathogenic mechanisms: A new challenge for neuroscience.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2022Review
- Effect of Body Composition Change during Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Myosteatosis Significantly Predicts Persistent Dyspnea and Mobility Problems in COVID-19 Survivors.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Research on SARS-COV-2 pandemic: a narrative review focused on the Italian contribution.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMuscular fatigue and injury are frequently observed in critically ill COVID-19 patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether different muscle adipose tissue depots are associated with mortality and muscle damage in patients affected by COVID-19 admitted to the ICU.
methodsCT images were obtained in 153 ICU patients with COVID-19 (121 males and 32 females). Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein, Creatine PhosphoKinase (CPK), muscle density, and intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) were measured.
resultsParticipants in the highest tertile of IMAT/muscle had the shorter 28-day survival from ICU admission as compared to subjects in the first tertile. Estimates derived from the Cox proportional hazard models, after adjustment for age, sex, and BMI, confirmed the results of the survival analysis (HR 3.94, 95% CI: 1.03-15.09). Participants in the lowest tertile of muscle density had the shorter survival at 28 days from ICU admission as compared to subjects in the highest tertile (HR 3.27, 95% CI: 1.18-4.61), but the relationship was no longer significant when age was included in the model. Subjects in the second muscle density tertile did not show an increased risk.Participants in the highest tertile of IMAT/muscle and those in the lowest tertile of muscle density showed both significantly higher CPK adjusted for weight values as evaluated during the first 8 days of hospitalization.
conclusionOur data seem to suggest that higher levels of IMAT/muscle and low muscle density are both associated with higher risk of ICU mortality and muscle injury as evaluated with CPK level.
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