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. 2014 May 1;116(9):1142-7.
doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01120.2013. Epub 2014 Jan 23.

The validity of anthropometric leg muscle volume estimation across a wide spectrum: from able-bodied adults to individuals with a spinal cord injury

Gwenael Layec  1 , Massimo Venturelli, Eun-Kee Jeong, Russell S Richardson
Affiliations

The validity of anthropometric leg muscle volume estimation across a wide spectrum: from able-bodied adults to individuals with a spinal cord injury

Gwenael Layec et al. J Appl Physiol (1985). .

Abstract

The assessment of muscle volume, and changes over time, have significant clinical and research-related implications. Methods to assess muscle volume vary from simple and inexpensive to complex and expensive. Therefore this study sought to examine the validity of muscle volume estimated simply by anthropometry compared with the more complex proton magnetic resonance imaging ((1)H-MRI) across a wide spectrum of individuals including those with a spinal cord injury (SCI), a group recognized to exhibit significant muscle atrophy. Accordingly, muscle volume of the thigh and lower leg of eight subjects with a SCI and eight able-bodied subjects (controls) was determined by anthropometry and (1)H-MRI. With either method, muscle volumes were significantly lower in the SCI compared with the controls (P < 0.05) and, using pooled data from both groups, anthropometric measurements of muscle volume were strongly correlated to the values assessed by (1)H-MRI in both the thigh (r(2) = 0.89; P < 0.05) and lower leg (r(2) = 0.98; P < 0.05). However, the anthropometric approach systematically overestimated muscle volume compared with (1)H-MRI in both the thigh (mean bias = 2407cm(3)) and the lower (mean bias = 170 cm(3)) leg. Thus with an appropriate correction for this systemic overestimation, muscle volume estimated from anthropometric measurements is a valid approach and provides acceptable accuracy across a spectrum of adults with normal muscle mass to a SCI and severe muscle atrophy. In practical terms this study provides the formulas that add validity to the already simple and inexpensive anthropometric approach to assess muscle volume in clinical and research settings.

Keywords: atrophy; imaging; magnetic resonance; muscle mass; skeletal muscle.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Representative T1-weighted image from the midpoint of the lower leg of a healthy control (left) and an individual with a spinal cord injury (right). Muscle (grey) is separated from fat (green) and other tissues such as bone and connective tissues (blue) using the signal-intensity threshold method and then muscle cross-sectional area is calculated.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Relationships between muscle volume measured by anthropometry and 1H-MRI in the thigh and lower leg using pooled data from the able-bodied controls and spinal cord injury (SCI). A strong and significant correlation was observed between both methods in the thigh (r2 = 0.89; P < 0.05) and the lower leg (r2 = 0.98; P < 0.05). The solid lines represent the regression lines, the dotted lines represent the 95% confidence interval, and the dashed lines represent the line of identity.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Bland-Altman plot between anthropometry and 1H-MRI muscle volume in controls (·) and SCI (○). There was a systematic overestimation of muscle volume using anthropometry compared with MRI measurements in both thigh and lower leg. The continuous and dashed lines represent the mean bias and ±2 SD of the difference between anthropometry and MRI muscle volume measurements, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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