Muscle function and quality of life in the Crohn’s disease

Abstract

Introduction: Crohn's disease (CD) is an inflammatory bowel disease, marked by exacerbations and remissions periods. Peripheral manifestations in CD may be present with the syndrome of skeletal muscle dysfunction (SMD), which is characterized by loss of muscle strength, fatigue complain, limited exercise capacity and impaired quality of life of these patients. Objective: Evaluate muscle strength, physical capacity and quality of life of patients with CD and compare them with healthy controls. Methods: 18 patients CD and 12 healthy controls matched for age and sex were involved. Peripheral muscle strength evaluated by handgrip strength of the dominant hand and respiratory muscle strength by measures of respiratory muscle strength (maximal inspiratory/expiratory pressure – MIP and MEP). Exercise capacity evaluated by Shuttle test (ST) and the quality of life by the Short-form 36 (SF-36) and by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Results: Patients with CD presented a lower respiratory muscle strength (MIP = -68.93 ± 26.61 vs 29.63 ± -100 cmH2O, p = 0.0013 and MEP = 81.07 ± 30.26 vs 108 ± 25.30 cmH2O, p = 0.032) and a tendency the lower peripheral muscle strength (31.72 ± 8.55 vs 39.00 ± 13.37 kgf, p = 0.09). In addition, CD patients presented worse physical capacity on the ST compared to the control group (513.7 ± 237m vs 983.0 ± 263m, p < 0.05) and worse quality of life in 7 of 8 domains of the SF-36 and in all dimensions of the IBDQ. Conclusion: Patients with CD showed muscle functional impairment and poorer quality of life compared to healthy control group. These findings suggest that the assessment and maybe interventions in the muscle function must be used in clinical practice.