Background: Stroke and sarcopenia are common in elderly and there is a growing interest in both of diseases. However, the combination of these diseases has not been thoroughly studied so far. Grip strength has been widely used not only to measure overall muscle strength but also to evaluate sarcopenia or frailty in elderly. Therefore we aimed to investigate the association between grip strength on the unaffected side and post-stroke functional improvement.
Methods: A total of 127 patients with unilateral stroke were included in this study. Demographic data including sex, age, height, and weight and clinical data regarding grip strength, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Modified Barthel index (MBI), and stroke profiles at admission to rehabilitation unit were retrospectively reviewed. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between grip strength on unaffected side and difference between admission and discharge MBI (dMBI).
Results: Initial MBI, age, grip strength, and lesion side had significant correlation with dMBI (P = 0.004, 0.04, 0.02, and 0.04, respectively). As grip strength increased by 1 kg, dMBI increased by 0.373, while adjusting for other covariates.
Conclusions: The current study suggests for the first time that grip strength on the unaffected side is an independent predictor for the short-term functional improvement after stroke. This result implies the possibility of relationship between sarcopenia and post-stroke outcome. In addition, this may change the future strategies of post-stroke rehabilitation to emphasize exercises to prevent loss of muscle strengths. Further researches are needed to reveal the mechanism and the effect of sarcopenia on stroke patients. |
