Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the deterioration of femoral muscle strength and the factors influensing deterioration. Subjects were 72 surgical patients with gastrointestinal diseases aged above 40 years. As indicators of muscle strength, we chose a cross-sectional area (CSA) of muscle, which reflected physiological muscle strength and was estimated from femoral circumference and skinfold. Changes in the CSA were inquired during pre-and post-operative periods, and the factors influensing the decrease were computerized by multiple regression analysis program.
Findings were as follows:
1. Femoral muscle CSA decreased markedly greater as earlier as in post-operative period. At the 7th post-operative day, the CSA decreased 8.4%, and after that time about 0.2% per day.
2. Dominant factors influensing decrease of the CSA were quantity of operative bleeding and ambulation, especially the latter.
3. Other variables correlated with decrease of the CSA were age, pre-operative body weight, and pre-operative serum albumin.
4. Ambulation is facilitated by nursing intervention and differs from other factors in that aspect, therefore the result from this study dose support importance of the nursing intervention in terms of postoperative early ambulation.
