Grip strength as a predictor of disease severity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Özgür Kara, Murat Kara, Mustafa Emre Akın and 1 others
PMID 34217985WHAT IT FOUND
Among hospitalized adults with confirmed COVID-19, low grip strength at admission was associated with severe disease even after considering age, obesity, COPD and CRP.
It may help flag risk, but this was an association, not proof grip strength caused severity.
Key findings
01Severe illness was associated with lower mean grip strength and a higher frequency of low grip strength.
02Low grip strength was present in 39.5% of severe patients and 9.1% of non-severe patients.
03Low grip strength remained an independent predictor of severe disease alongside age, obesity, COPD and CRP.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one hospital during the early pandemic, so it may not apply to older, sicker or later-pandemic populations. Only 38 patients had severe disease, and the severe group was too small to analyze separately by gender. Patients admitted initially to intensive care were excluded, so the findings may not apply to the sickest patients. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that low grip strength caused severe disease or that improving grip would reduce risk. Other frailty components, such as slowness, weight loss, exhaustion and low physical activity, were not measured. The sample was relatively young and healthy, with mean age 46.1 years and 23.1% asymptomatic.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that low grip strength caused severe COVID-19 or that strengthening grip will reduce severity. This was a cross-sectional admission study with only 38 severe patients, so it shows association, not treatment effect.