The Impact of Severe Infectious Pulmonary Exacerbation on fat-free mass in Hospitalized Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients experience a continuous acute phase of inflammatory and catabolic state. Longitudinal study to assess the impact of severe infectious pulmonary exacerbation on fat-free mass (FFM) and on the fat-free mass index (FFMI) in adults with CF who required hospital admission. Nutritional assessment using anthropometry and bioimpedance, Visual Appetite Scale (VAS), Kanga Score, functional assessment by spirometry and a 6-minute walk test. Inflammatory biochemical markers cortisol and C-Reactive Protein were also used. Results: The multivariate linear regression analysis identified only sex as an independent variable significantly associated with improvement in the FFMI (B= -1.81, 95% CI= -3.10; -0.51, p=0.008). As for the increase in FFM, two significantly associated independent variables were identified: sex (B= -10.38, confidence interval – 95% CI= -14.70; -6.06, p<0.001); and forced vital capacity (FVC) % of predicted (B=0.13, 95% CI=0.04; 0.23, p=0.006). There was a significant improvement in FFM and FFMI between the start of hospitalization and the 14th day. Gender and FVC % of predicted were responsible for predicting FFM improvement. For the FFMI, the predictive variable of this improvement was gender only, with males having the greatest increase in FFM and FFMI.