Nishihara Ken, Kawai Hisashi, Ejiri Manami, Imamura Keigo, Obuchi Shuichi
Physical Therapy, Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, JPN.
Research Team for Human Care, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Tokyo, JPN.
Cureus. 2024 Dec 30;16(12):e76651. doi: 10.7759/cureus.76651. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Purpose Muscle atrophy progresses with age. The motor function may be estimated by measuring the muscle mass; however, if muscle quality deteriorates due to an increase in connective tissue within the muscle, a decline in motor function may be missed by measuring muscle mass alone. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between muscle mass, muscle quality, and motor function. This study aimed to clarify how changes in muscle thickness, measured using ultrasound imaging, in older people are related to motor function and echo intensity. Patients and methods The thickness and echo intensity of the four quadriceps muscles were measured using an ultrasound imaging device in 110 community-dwelling older individuals. Correlations between muscle thickness, motor functions such as walking and muscle strength, and echo intensity were analyzed in each sex. Partial correlation analysis was conducted using age as a control variable. Results A significant correlation was observed between muscle thickness and motor function in both men and women. There was no significant negative correlation between muscle thickness and echo intensity of the same muscle in men, except between each muscle thickness and the vastus medialis (p < 0.001 or p = 0.007), between the sum of the four muscle thicknesses and vastus medialis thickness (p = 0.02), and between the vastus medialis thickness and echo intensity (p < 0.006). In women, a significant correlation was observed for all muscles. Partial correlation analysis revealed a similarly significant correlation between muscle thickness and echo intensity in men and women. Conclusion We observed sex differences in the relationship between muscle thickness and echo intensity. This suggests that, even after adjusting for age-related factors, women may show more pronounced changes in muscle quality than men, with increased echo intensity due to increased intramuscular connective tissue with muscle atrophy.
目的 肌肉萎缩随年龄增长而进展。运动功能可通过测量肌肉质量来评估；然而，如果由于肌肉内结缔组织增加导致肌肉质量下降，仅测量肌肉质量可能会遗漏运动功能的下降。因此，了解肌肉质量、肌肉质量和运动功能之间的关系很重要。本研究旨在阐明使用超声成像测量的老年人肌肉厚度变化与运动功能和回声强度之间的关系。
患者和方法 使用超声成像设备测量了110名社区居住的老年人股四头肌的厚度和回声强度。分析了每种性别中肌肉厚度、行走和肌肉力量等运动功能与回声强度之间的相关性。以年龄作为控制变量进行偏相关分析。
结果 男性和女性的肌肉厚度与运动功能之间均观察到显著相关性。在男性中，同一肌肉的肌肉厚度与回声强度之间没有显著的负相关，但各肌肉厚度与股内侧肌之间（p < 0.001或p = 0.007）、四块肌肉厚度总和与股内侧肌厚度之间（p = 0.02）以及股内侧肌厚度与回声强度之间（p < 0.006）除外。在女性中，所有肌肉均观察到显著相关性。偏相关分析显示，男性和女性的肌肉厚度与回声强度之间同样存在显著相关性。
结论 我们观察到肌肉厚度与回声强度之间的关系存在性别差异。这表明，即使在调整了与年龄相关的因素后，女性的肌肉质量变化可能比男性更明显，随着肌肉萎缩，肌肉内结缔组织增加导致回声强度增加。
