Body composition of women and men with complete motor paraplegia

Abstract

Objectives: To examine body composition, including the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and total body fat, in women and men with complete motor paraplegia and to make comparisons with able-bodied controls. Methods: In 13 subjects with traumatic, complete motor paraplegia (six women, seven men) and 39 sex-, age-, and BMI-matched controls from the community (18 women, 21 men), we measured total and regional (upper extremities, trunk, and lower extremities) lean and fat mass using total body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: Both women and men with paraplegia had significantly lower lean mass in their lower extremities, as would be expected, and in their total body when compared with controls. However, they had significantly greater lean mass in their upper extremities than controls (4.4 kg vs. 3.6 kg, P = 0.004 and 8.6 kg vs. 6.7 kg, P < 0.001 in women and men, respectively); all subjects with paraplegia studied used manual wheelchairs. Although total body fat mass was significantly greater in women (P = 0.010) and men (P = <0.001) with paraplegia compared with controls, for the equivalent total body fat mass, BMI was actually lower in women and men with paraplegia than controls (e.g. 20.2 kg/m 2 vs. 25.0 kg/m 2 , respectively). Conclusion: We report on body composition in persons with complete motor paraplegia, including women on whom limited information is currently available. Our results support the need to define better assessments of obesity in both women and men following spinal cord injury, particularly of central body fat distribution, as BMI underestimates adiposity in this population.

Anthropometric and biomechanical characteristics of body segments in persons with spinal cord injury

“…However, the number of subjects included in this comparison was small, and further research is needed. Consistent with our data, others have reported higher fat proportion in the trunk and waist region in people with SCI compared to able-bodied controls (Beck et al, 2014; Emmons et al, 2011), and the difference was greater for those with motor complete vs. motor incomplete injury, and in those with tetraplegia vs. paraplegia (Spungen et al, 2003). Among individuals with SCI, trunk mass proportion was higher for those who are obese.…”

Reduced common carotid artery longitudinal wall motion and intramural shear strain in individuals with elevated cardiovascular disease risk using speckle tracking

“…Finally, while we found reduced retrograde longitudinal displacements and shear strain in our SCI group, we cannot ascribe the results specifically to the presence of their SCI, as our SCI participants had a wide range of autonomic completeness, were also older and had a higher BMI compared to our AB group. However, with known decreases in physical activity levels (Buchholz et al ., ) and negative changes in body composition (Beck et al ., ), the SCI sample is representative of increased cardiovascular disease risk, and the observation of altered arterial physiology supports the idea of potential subclinical information offered by CALM and intramural shear strain.…”

Cardiometabolic Changes and Disparities Among Persons With Spinal Cord Injury: A 17-Year Cohort Study

“…In individuals with SCI, BMI can be more difficult to measure, and both BMI and waist circumference underestimate obesity in SCI. 23,[38][39][40] However, although BMI and waist circumference are not good estimators of intra-abdominal fat for persons with SCI, our finding suggests that these 2 measures should be further investigated in the aging SCI population as discriminators of diabetes.…”