JAKARTA - People with denser chest and back muscles are said to be less likely to have a heart attack or die early. This finding emerged from an artificial intelligence-based analysis of the results of scans of patients with chest pain.
The Guardian, quoted Tuesday, July 7, reported that researchers led by the University of Edinburgh used AI to examine the results of hospital scans of 1,722 patients. Most patients were in their 50s and came with complaints of chest pain.
The results showed that patients with greater muscle density in the chest and less in the back were less likely to have a heart attack or die within 10 years of the scan.
The researchers suspect that people with "good quality" skeletal muscle are those who exercise more often and have better strength in the trunk. The findings were published in the journal Radiology.
Prof Michelle Williams, senior author of the study, said the link between skeletal muscle and heart attack risk was interesting to watch. He even started going to the gym twice a week and targeted an hour's walk every day after seeing the results of the study.
"It's interesting that a person's skeletal muscle can be linked to their risk of having a heart attack," Williams said, quoted by The Guardian.
According to Williams, the muscles visible in the CT scan of the coronary angiogram are mainly the back muscles, part of the chest muscles, and the intercostal muscles or muscles between the ribs. The coronary angiogram is a CT examination to see the heart blood vessels.
"So I'm now personally interested in sports like cycling, planks, and pilates, which I enjoy and may affect these muscles," he said.
However, Williams stressed that further research is still needed. Researchers have not conclusively concluded how exercise affects muscle density and how it relates to heart health.
In the study, AI was used to examine the muscles, organs, bones, and fat in the patient's upper body. One of the things seen is the level of muscle tone in the scan image.
More dense muscle appears brighter because more X-ray beams are reflected. Brighter images indicate more dense and higher quality muscle, with a lower likelihood of fat content.
In its report, The Guardian said researchers calculated that every 10-point increase in the scan's brightness was associated with a 31 percent reduction in the likelihood of a heart attack. They also said the risk of dying within 10 years of the scan was down 39 percent.
Interestingly, muscle size is not related to the risk of heart attack or premature death. Researchers assess muscle composition is more important than the size of the muscle.
According to the researchers, routine cardiac scans could later be used to identify patients with poor muscle quality. This group can be monitored more closely, helped to exercise more, or prioritized to receive drugs that reduce the risk of heart attacks.
Prof Bryan Williams, scientific and medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the study, said people with more dense muscle mass in the study were likely to be more physically active.
"It is likely that the people in this study who had more dense muscle mass were more physically active and, as a result, may have had better heart health," Bryan said.
He said the findings were additional evidence of the importance of exercise. However, as the researchers emphasized, the relationship between muscle density, exercise, and heart health still needs to be studied further.
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