VMR tied to severe COPD exacerbation

Visceral fat-to-muscle ratio (VMR) can be used to predict the severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), suggests a study.

A total of 631 COPD patients were included, of whom 186 (29.48 percent) and 304 (48.18 percent) had severe exacerbation within 1 and 5 years, respectively.

VMR showed a more robust association with severe COPD exacerbation compared with BMI and other obesity indicators. Specifically, a higher VMR was predictive of severe exacerbations at year 1 (odds ratio [OR], 1.34) and year 5 (OR, 1.44).

In subgroup analyses, female and overweight individuals were more likely to experience severe COPD exacerbations at 1 (female: OR, 1.89; overweight: OR, 1.80) and 5 (female: OR, 1.99; overweight: OR, 1.88) years.

Notably, each 1-point increase in VMR led to a 46-percent increase in the number of COPD exacerbation. These findings were consistent in the sensitivity analyses after excluding underweight patients or smoking influence, as well as in the competing risk analysis after including other causes of death.

“Proactive assessment of VMR might be helpful to guide management of COPD patients,” the investigators said.

This prospective cohort study of COPD patients was carried out together with the Xinjiang Multi-Ethnic Cohort study from May 2018 to December 2023.

The investigators calculated the baseline VMR from visceral fat area and muscle mass measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis. They also monitored the number of hospital admissions for COPD exacerbation. Finally, logistics regression and zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses were done to examine the associations between COPD exacerbations and various variables.