Fig. 2

Differences in MSTN gene expression on day 15 and myostatin plasma trajectory in patients diagnosed with ICUAW at ICU discharge. a MSTN gene expression was significantly decreased in all critically ill patients independent of the ICUAW diagnosis. Patients with ICUAW presented furthermore a significant reduction in MSTN gene expression over those without ICUAW. b Myostatin plasma trajectory shows significantly decreased values that recover over time independent of ICUAW, while no differences between patients with and without ICUAW can be observed (GLM: p < 0.001; n = 9 patients with ICUAW and n = 15 without ICUAW with values from all three timepoints were analyzed). GLM = general linear model for the factor “time” in critically ill; mRNA = messenger ribonucleic acid. ^###p < 0.001 for Kruskal–Wallis test between healthy controls and critically ill; **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 for post hoc test comparison with healthy controls; ⁺p < 0.05 for post hoc test comparison between critically ill