The vital sign your doctor isn’t taking but should be

If you’ve been to your doctor recently, whether you went in because you weren’t feeling well or just for your yearly physical, you know the drill…

Before you even get taken back to a room to wait for the doctor to come in, a nurse has you step on a scale to check your weight (definitely my least favorite part of any visit), takes your blood pressure and clips that little thing onto your finger to get your pulse.

That’s so each of those measurements is ready and waiting in your chart for your doctor to take note of. Each of those vital signs tells him how you’re doing and if there are any concerns that need addressing.

But, are those measurements really giving a “big picture” of your overall health?

New research published in Annals of Medicine says no.

In fact, the research — which was an extensive review of more than 140 studies in inpatient, outpatient and long-term care settings — determined there’s one very important factor that physicians are overlooking.

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The new vital sign?

So, what are doctors missing? According to the research, the answer is your muscle mass.

The evidence suggests that your muscle mass should be a key factor in evaluating your health status, especially if you’re living with a chronic disease. And, that comprehensive review we just talked about confirmed that low muscle mass is linked to an increased risk of serious health complications and a decreased chance of survival.

The results were so clear that Carla Prado, Ph.D., R.D., associate professor at the University of Alberta and principal author of the paper suggested, “Muscle mass should be looked at as a new vital sign. If healthcare professionals identify and treat low muscle mass, they can significantly improve their patients’ health outcomes.”

This would be a new approach since for decades doctors have only relied on checking your body mass index or BMI. Unfortunately, this measurement is unreliable at best and misleading at worst, since it doesn’t distinguish between your muscle mass and your fat mass.

The truth is that you can appear perfectly healthy and be at a normal weight but still have a low muscle mass — which the research shows puts you at serious risk.

It found that people with less muscle had more surgical and post-operative complications, longer hospital stays, lower physical function, poorer quality of life and overall lower survival rate compared to those with normal muscle mass.

The results of the review came down to one thing — muscle mass matters.

Not convinced?

Well, let’s take a look at just a small sampling of the data they looked at:

• A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed women with breast cancer who had more muscle had a nearly 60 percent better chance of survival.
• Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) with more muscle spend less time on the ventilator — as well as less time in the ICU — and have a better chance of survival.
• People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have more muscle experience better respiratory outcomes and lower occurrence of osteopenia or osteoporosis.
• In the long-term care setting, a study found individuals with lower muscle mass had more severe Alzheimer’s.

Your muscle mass matters

What this all adds up to is that boosting your muscle mass could be one of the most important things you ever do to improve your health and lengthen your life.

According to Suzette Pereira, Ph.D., a research scientist at Abbott and one of the paper authors, “It’s never too late to rebuild muscle with good nutrition, including protein, and proper exercise.”

That exercise she’s talking about is strength training and it’s easier than you might think.

Simple body weight exercises can make a big difference and don’t even require a trip to the gym. For some simple ways to boost your muscle mass at home, see my post on building a brawny body (and brain!).

And, the next time you see your doctor remember — although your pulse and blood pressure are undeniably important, when it comes to your long-term health, muscle mass matters.