Total body fat and muscle mass depletion has been reported in some patients with COPD. This study used simple anthropometric measurements to compare the body composition of patients with moderate-severe COPD to that of healthy controls, and examines relationships between body composition, disease severity, habitual physical activity and resting and exercise energy expenditure. Results show no significant differences in overall Heath-Carter somatotype characteristics, percent body fat, fat free mass and girth measurements between COPD and control subjects although when stratified by gender, female COPD patients exhibited a greater body fat component. Measured VO2 (L/min) at rest or during steady-state exercise was not significantly different between COPD and control subjects despite a higher exercise ventilation in patients. Neither resting or exercise energy expenditure was related to body composition, however it was related to DLCO/VA (ml·min-1·mmHg -1·L-1). Findings from this study suggest that COPD patients capable of participating in dynamic exercise studies do not exhibit total body fat and muscle depletion. Findings in women suggest that the relative decrease in FFM may be related to a relatively higher proportion of body fat and not a decrease in absolute muscle mass.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82412 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Rittmaster, Dana |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002227776, proquestno: AAIMR12527, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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