Electrical Muscle Stimulation: An Effective Form of Exercise and Early Mobilization to Preserve Muscle Strength in Critically Ill Patients

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the patients finally evaluated in the EMS group and the control group (mean ± SD; in medication variables: median (25th–75th percentiles)).

	EMS group	Control group	𝑃
𝑛	24	28
Age, years	55±20	59±21	0.49
Gender, male/female	19/5	22/6	>0.99
SOFA score on admission	8±3	8±3	0.52
APACHE II score on admission	16±4	19±5	0.03
SAPS III score on admission	55±11	58±14	0.34
Diagnostic category at admission
Brain injury, 𝑛 (%)	9 (38%)	5 (18%)
Postsurgical, 𝑛 (%)	7 (29%)	5 (18%)
Respiratory failure, 𝑛 (%)	0 (0%)	2 (6%)	0.05
Sepsis/septic shock, 𝑛 (%)	1 (4%)	10 (36%)
Trauma, 𝑛 (%)	5 (21%)	5 (18%)
Other, 𝑛 (%)	2 (8%)	1 (4%)
Comorbidities
Cardiovascular disease, 𝑛 (%)	8 (33%)	13 (46%)	0.50
Diabetes mellitus, 𝑛 (%)	3 (13%)	5 (18%)	0.71
GI disease, 𝑛 (%)	3 (13%)	1 (4%)	0.32
Haematologic disease, 𝑛 (%)	1 (4%)	1 (4%)	>0.99
Hepatic disease, 𝑛 (%)	2 (8%)	0 (0%)	0.21
Renal disease, 𝑛 (%)	0 (0%)	6 (21%)	0.03
Respiratory disease, 𝑛 (%)	3 (13%)	9 (32%)	0.18
Other, 𝑛 (%)	2 (8%)	1 (4%)	0.59
None reported, 𝑛 (%)	8 (33%)	8 (29%)	0.95
Sepsis during ICU stay, 𝑛 (%)	16 (67%)	21 (75%)	0.72
Medication
Sedation, days	5 (2–10)	4 (2–9)	0.85
Aminoglycoside administration, days	0 (0–4)	1 (0–4)	0.18
Corticosteroid administration, days	0 (0–2)	0 (0–2)	0.96
NMBA administration, days	0 (0-0)	0 (0-0)	0.48

EMS: electrical muscle stimulation; SOFA: sequential organ failure assessment; APACHE: acute physiology and chronic health evaluation; SAPS: simplified acute physiology; GI: gastrointestinal; NMBA: neuromuscular blocking agents.