Does acute infectious disease reduce isometric muscle strength compared to bed rest alone?
Acute infectious diseases independently cause a significant reduction in isometric muscle strength beyond the effects of bed rest alone.
Isometric strength of different muscle groups was recorded in thiryty-nine patients suffering various acute infectious diseases, predominantly of viral or mycoplasma aetiology. Recordings were performed after subsidence of fever, and 1, and 4 months thereafter. A control group of twenty-two healthy men, confined to bed for the same period of time as the patients, were investigated at the same time intervals. In addition, control measurements were performed after 1 year in the patients, prior to bed rest in the control subjects. As a result of illness muscle strength was decreased significantly to 85.4-95.3% of that recorded at 4 months. In the control subjects strength did not change significantly, the corresponding percentages being 96.3-102.5. Thus, the present data indicate that these illnesses in themselves may bring about isometric muscle strength reduction.
G. Friman (Sat,) studied this question.
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