Muscle mass, strength and functional outcomes in critically ill patients after cardiothoracic surgery: does neuromuscular electrical stimulation help? The Catastim 2 randomized controlled trial

Table 5 Linear mixed model for mean MRC of all muscle groups on four important study days (51 patients, 130 observations)

	Estimate of mean MRC in points^a (95 % CI)	P value
Intercept	4.69 (4.45 to 4.93)	<0.001
Preoperative day	Reference	.
First postoperative day	−0.57 (−0.78 to −0.36)	<0.001
ICU discharge	−0.27 (−0.48 to −0.06)	0.01
Hospital discharge	0.10 (−0.15 to 0.35)	0.43
Control group	Reference	.
NMES group	0.01 (−0.26 to 0.28)	0.92

The linear mixed model for mean MRC in Table 5 reads as follows:
On the first postoperative day mean MRC was about −0.57 points (95 % CI, −0.78 to −0.36 points) lower than on preoperative day, which is the reference day (P < 0.001)
At ICU discharge mean MRC was about −0.27 points (95 % CI, (−0.48 to −0.06 points) lower than on preoperative day (P = 0.01)
At hospital discharge mean MRC was not different from mean MRC on preoperative day (P = 0.43)
On preoperative day, at the first postoperative day, at ICU discharge and at hospital discharge there were no differences in mean MRC between the NMES and control group (P = 0.92)
MRC Medical Research Council, CI confidence interval, ICU intensive care unit, NMES neuromuscular electrical stimulation
^aAccording to the MRC scale [33], mean MRC score ranges from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5 points

ISSN: 1364-8535