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Table 1 Comparison between healthy controls and patients with COPD as a whole

From: Specific motor cortex hypoexcitability and hypoactivation in COPD patients with peripheral muscle weakness

 

Controls n = 20

COPD n = 40

p-value (t-test)

Anthropometric parameters

 Gender, M/F

10/10

21/19

–

 Age, yrs

61.3 (2.17)

61.7 (1.73)

0.97

 Weight, kg

72 (2.59)

73 (3.96)

0.89

 BMI, kg.m−2

25.4 (0.76)

26.4 (1.26)

0.46

Pulmonary parameters

 FEV1, L

3.12 (0.2)

1.3 (0.11)

< 0.001

 FEV1, % pred

113.9 (3.2)

49.6 (3.66)

< 0.001

 FEV1/FVC

0.74 (0.46)

0.5 (0.28)

< 0.001

Maximal voluntary and electrically evoked quadriceps torque

 QMVC, Nm

150.3 (15.7)

99 (10.4)

< 0.05

 QPt, Nm

43.1 (3.71)

33.5 (3.32)

< 0.05

Voluntary activation parameters

 VAperipheral

93 (1)

93.1 (1.32)

0.94

 VAcortical, %

89.8 (1.02)

85.7 (3.11)

0.26

Peripheral and spinal parameters

 Mmax amplitude, mV

3.94 (0.38)

3.32 (0.5)

0.36

 Mmax lat, ms

5.7 (0.27)

6.15 (0.25)

0.38

 Hmax/Mmax

0.188 (0.027)

0.26 (0.029)

0.34

 Hmax lat, ms

16.63 (0.54)

18.98 (0.59)

< 0.01

Corticospinal parameters

 MEP/Mmax

0.374 (0.021)

0.34 (0.045)

0.68

 CMCT, ms

20.3 (0.56)

20.2 (0.54)

0.59

 CSP, ms

75.6 (7.2)

103 (4.43)

< 0.001

  1. BMI body mass index, FEV1 forced expiratory volume in 1 s, FVC forced vital capacity, QMVC quadriceps maximal voluntary torque, QPt quadriceps peak twitch, Cortical VA primary motor cortex activation, Mmax amplitude amplitude of the maximal M-wave, Mmax lat latency of the maximal M-wave, Hmax/Mmax amplitude of the maximal H-wave normalized with respect to the maximal M-wave, Hmax - Mmax lat latency of the maximal H-wave minus the latency of the maximal M-wave, MEP/Mmax amplitude of the maximal motor evoked potential normalized with respect to the maximal M-wave amplitude, CMCT central motor conduction time, CSP cortical silent period. Data are expressed as mean and SE