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Erector spinae muscle (ESM) size has been reported as a predictor of prognosis in patients with some respiratory diseases. This study aimed to assess the association of ESM size on all-cause in-hospital mortality among elderly patients with pneumonia. We retrospectively included patients (age: ≥ 65 years) admitted to hospital from January 2015 to December 2017 for community-acquired pneumonia who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) on admission. The cross-sectional area of the ESM (ESMcsa) was measured on a single-slice CT image at the end of the 12th thoracic vertebra and adjusted by body surface area (BSA). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the influence of ESMcsa/BSA on in-hospital mortality. Among 736 patients who were admitted for pneumonia, 702 patients (95%) underwent chest CT. Of those, 689 patients (98%) for whom height and weight were measured to calculate BSA were included in this study. Patients in the non-survivor group were significantly older, had a greater frequency of respiratory failure, loss of consciousness, lower body mass index, hemoglobin, albumin, and ESMcsa/BSA. Multivariate analysis showed that a lower ESMcsa/BSA independently predicted in-hospital mortality after adjusting for these variables. In elderly patients with pneumonia, quantification of ESMcsa/BSA may be associated with in-hospital mortality.

Background: Some investigations have revealed an association between depression and physical measurements of COPD patients in North America and Europe, but few related studies have been performed in Asia., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 84 consecutive, stable out-patients with COPD (mean ± SD age 72.0 ± 9.0 y, percent-of-predicted FEV1 46 ± 15%, 15 [17.9%] female) in a Japanese community hospital were recruited. "Probable depression" was defined as a score of ≥ 6 on the short-form Geriatric Depression Scale (SF-GDS). Relationships among commonly used physical measurements, SF-GDS raw score, and probable depression were evaluated with the Spearman rank correlation test, multiple linear regression analysis, logistic regression analysis, and receiver operating characteristic curves., Results: Thirty-two subjects (38.1%) had probable depression. Body mass index, obstruction, dyspnea, exercise capacity index, percent-of-predicted FEV1, Modified Medical Research Council dyspnea score, 6-min walk distance, and SpO2 had: simple correlations (r 0.42-0.60, P < .001 for all) with the SF-GDS raw score; partial correlations (r 0.25-0.51, P < .05 for all) with the SF-GDS raw score after adjusting for demographic and social factors; association with probable depression in the logistic regression analysis after adjusting for demographic and social factors (P < .05 for all); and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.72-0.84 (P < .001 for any) for probable depression., Conclusions: Physical parameters were associated with depression in our Japanese COPD out-patients.