Muscle thickness of the pectoralis major and rectus abdominis and level of physical activity in chronic hemodialysis patients

Aline Felicio Bueno, Fernando de Aguiar Lemos, Matheus Elias Ferrareze, William Antonio Martins dos Santos, Francisco Veríssimo Veronese, Alexandre Simões Dias

Patients on chronic hemodialysis tend to lose lean body mass and have sedentary behavior. To compare the level of physical activity and the morphology of the muscles pectoralis major and rectus abdominis of patients on hemodialysis with healthy subjects. We studied 17 patients and 17 healthy individuals. Muscle thickness were evaluated by ultrasound, and the level of physical activity by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), long version. The patients had lower thicknesses of the pectoralis major (5.92 ± 0.35 mm vs. 8.35 ± 0.62 mm, p < 0.001) and rectus abdominis (0.96 ± 0.10 mm vs. 2 21 ± 0.40 mm, p < 0.001) compared to healthy subjects. Patients were physically less active than healthy individuals: 1502.55(788.19-2513.00) MET-minutes/week vs. 2268.0(1680.0-4490,8) MET-minutes/week (p = 0.006); the weekly caloric expenditure of patients was also lower: 1384.0(480,7-2253.7) kcal/kg/week vs. 1680.0(1677.4-4950.0) kcal/kg/week (p = 0.010). The average time spent sitting per week of the patients was higher than in healthy subjects (394.0 ± 33.1 min/day vs. 293.0 ± 38.6, p = 0.009) as well as the average time spent sitting during weekend (460.0 ± 40.1 vs. 201.0 ± 10.7, p = 0.003). Chronic renal failure patients on hemodialysis have sedentary behavior and lower muscle thickness of the trunk.