Prospective study needed
Commenting on the study for this news organization, Jonathan H. Whiteson, MD, vice chair of clinical operations and medical director of cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation at NYU Langone Health’s Rusk Rehabilitation in New York, expressed concerns about the study methodology.
Methodologic weaknesses include the retrospective, observational nature of the study and the fact that incomplete data collection led to the exclusion of more than half of the potential participants, he said. In addition, “anthropometric measurements are prone to inter-rater error. It is not clear if the same or different researchers conducted these measurements.
“Furthermore, hospitalized patients may not be clinically stable when discharged,” said Dr. Whiteson. “It is recommended that biometrics for muscle mass and fluid retention be done when patients are at an optimized clinical state: that is, stabilized outpatients.”
For now, Dr. Whiteson concluded, the findings should be considered “interesting and suggestive of further study.” What’s needed is “a prospective study including all patients admitted with heart failure, but measurements done when the patient is stabilized as an outpatient.”
The study was partially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI. Dr. Kamiya, Dr. Uchida, and Dr. Whiteson reported no conflicts of interest.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.