Handgrip strength on the unaffected side associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in male patients with stroke

Objectives: To investigate factors related to cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with stroke and explore the association between handgrip strength (HS) and peak oxygen utilization (VO 2 peak). METHODS The present study adopted a cross-sectional method. Seventy male patients who had been clinically diagnosed with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were recruited for this study. HS on the unaffected side (uHS) was measured using a hydraulic hand dynamometer and adjusted for body mass index (uHS BMI ) and body surface area (uHS BSA ). Concurrently, the VO 2 peak was measured using a cardiopulmonary exercise test system. Univariate, multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between various participant characteristics and the VO 2 peak. RESULTS The average age of the 70 selected male patients was 51.6 ± 10.3 years. The Barthel Index (BI), uHS, uHS BMI , and uHS BSA were the independent predictors of VO 2 peak. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), body mass index (BMI), and body surface area (BSA) were negatively correlated with the VO 2 peak. The estimation of VO 2 peak using linear regression, including age, BI, uHS BSA , and anaerobic threshold (AT) as independent variables, explained 65.5% of the variance in the VO 2 peak. CONCLUSION BMI- and BSA-adjusted uHS appear to be independent factors associated with cardiorespiratory fitness in male patients with stroke. The anaerobic threshold (AT) combined with uHS BMI /uHS BSA may provide a more reliable assessment of the aerobic capacity post-stroke. The measurement of handgrip strength is a simple, risk-stratifying method that may help determine the cardiorespiratory fitness of patients with stroke, but a larger study with diverse subjects is needed. This study was registered at the China Clinical Trials Center (registration number: ChiCTR2000035308) in Aug. 8th, 2020.