A relationship between lung function and sarcopenia has been suggested. This study aimed to evaluate the association between lung function and abdominal skeletal muscle mass, as measured by computed tomography (CT). The clinical records of 1907 subjects (1406 males, mean age 53.1 ± 9.2 years), who underwent routine health check-ups, including spirometry and abdominal CT, were retrospectively reviewed. The CT-measured skeletal muscle index (SMICT, cm2/(kg/m2) was defined as the skeletal muscle area of the third lumbar vertebrae (L3) level that is normalized by the body mass index. The mean values of forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) gradually increased as the SMICT quartiles increased (all p for trend < 0.05). The proportions of subjects with less than 80% of the predicted FVC (%) and predicted FEV1 (%) significantly decreased as the SMICT quartiles increased (all p for trend < 0.05). The β regression coefficients for FVC and FEV1 significantly increased as the SMICT quartiles increased after adjusting for other confounding variables (p for trend < 0.05). This study showed that abdominal muscle mass, which was precisely measured by CT, independently affected lung function proportionally after adjusting for confounding factors in relatively healthy adults.
Keywords: CT; lung function; sarcopenia; skeletal muscle.