Citation

Rivas E, Sanchez K, Cambiaso-Daniel J, Gutierrez IL, Tran J, Herndon DN, Suman OE. J. Burn Care Res. 2018; 39(5): 815-822.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1093/jbcr/irx057

PMID

29596612

Abstract

Whether burn injury affects boys and men differently is currently unknown. To test the hypothesis that burned boys have lower exercise capacity and exercise training induced responses compared to burned men, forty young boys (12±4 years, 149±20 cm, 46±18 kg) were matched to 35 adult men (33±9 years, 174±10 cm, 84±16 kg) based on extent of burn injury (total body surface area burned, boys 46±14% vs. men 47±30, P=0.85) and length of hospital stay (boys 33±23 vs. men 41±32 days, P=0.23). Strength (peak torque) and cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2) were normalized to lean body mass for group comparisons. Each group was also compared to normative age-sex matched values at discharge and after an aerobic and resistance RET program. A 2-way factorial ANOVA assessed interaction and main effects of group and time. We found that boys and men showed similar pre-to post RET increases in total lean (~4%) and fat (7%) mass (each P≤0.008). Both groups had lower age-sex matched norm values at discharge for peak torque (boys, 36%; men 51% of normative values) and peak VO2 (boys: 44; men: 59%) (each P≤0.0001). Boys strength were 13-15% lower than men at discharge and after RET (main effect for group, P<0.0001). Cardiorespiratory fitness improved to a greater extent in men (19%) compared to boys (10%) after the RET (group × time interaction, P=0.011). These results show that at discharge and after RET, burn injury may have age-dependent effects, and should be considered when evaluating efficacy and progress of the exercise program.

Language: en