Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar;48(2):168-77.
doi: 10.4103/0019-5413.128760.

Longitudinal study of body composition in spinal cord injury patients

Roop Singh  1 , Rajesh K Rohilla  1 , Gaurav Saini  1 , Kiranpreet Kaur  2
Affiliations

Longitudinal study of body composition in spinal cord injury patients

Roop Singh et al. Indian J Orthop. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Bone mass loss and muscle atrophy are the frequent complications occurring after spinal cord injury (SCI). The potential risks involved with these changes in the body composition have implications for the health of the SCI individual. Thus, there is a need to quantitate and monitor body composition changes accurately in an individual with SCI. Very few longitudinal studies have been reported in the literature to assess body composition and most include relatively small number of patients. The present prospective study aimed to evaluate the body composition changes longitudinally by DEXA in patients with acute SCI.

Materials and methods: Ninety five patients with acute SCI with neurological deficits were evaluated for bone mineral content (BMC), body composition [lean body mass (LBM) and fat mass] by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry during the first year of SCI.

Results: There was a significant decrease in BMC (P < 0.05) and LBM (P < 0.05) and increase in total body fat mass (TBFM) and percentage fat at infra-lesional sites. The average decrease was 14.5% in BMC in lower extremities, 20.5% loss of LBM in legs and 15.1% loss of LBM in trunk, and increase of 0.2% in fat mass in legs and 17.3% increased fat in the lower limbs at 1 year. The tetraplegic patients had significant decrease in arm BMC (P < 0.001), arm LBM (P < 0.01) and fat percentage (P < 0.01) compared to paraplegics. Patients with complete motor injury had higher values of TBFM and fat percentage, but comparable values of BMC and LBM to patients with incomplete motor injury.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there is a marked decrease in BMC and LBM with increase in adiposity during the first year of SCI. Although these changes depend on the level and initial severity of lesions, they are also influenced by the neurological recovery after SCI.

Keywords: Body composition; body mass index; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; paraplegia; spinal cord injuries; tetraplegia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bone mineral content in spinal cord injury patients (total)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Lean body mass in spinal cord injury patients (total)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Fat in spinal cord injury patients (total)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relationship of arm bone mineral content (BMC) with arm lean tissue mass for tetraplegia and paraplegia (tetraplegia: R = 0.521, P < 0.05; paraplegia: R = 0.732, P < 0.001)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relationship of leg BMC with leg lean tissue mass for those with complete or incomplete SCI (complete: R = 0.055, P > 0.05; incomplete: R = 0.565, P < 0.001)
Figure 6
Figure 6
Relationship of total body fat percent with body mass index for spinal cord injuries at l year (SCI: R = −0.19, P > 0.05)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Giangregorio L, McCartney N. Bone loss and muscle atrophy in spinal cord injury: Epidemiology, fracture prediction and rehabilitation strategies. J Spinal Cord Med. 2006;29:489–500. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gordon T, Mao J. Muscle atrophy and procedures for training after spinal cord injury. Phys Ther. 1994;74:50–60. - PubMed
    1. Jiang SD, Jiang LS, Dai LY. Mechanisms of osteoporosis in spinal cord injury. Clin Endocrinol (oxf) 2006;65:555–65. - PubMed
    1. Castro MJ, Apple DF, Hillegass EA, Dudley GA. Influence of complete spinal cord injury on skeletal muscle cross sectional area within the first 6 months of injury. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1999;80:373–8. - PubMed
    1. Forbes GB. London: Springer-Verlag; 1987. Human body composition: Growth, aging, nutrition and activity; pp. l53–95.

LinkOut - more resources