Handgrip Strength in Preoperative Elective Cardiac Surgery Patients and Association With Body Composition and Surgical Risk

Abstract

Background Handgrip strength (HGS) is a potential method to approximate perioperative risk in cardiothoracic surgery patients and correlates well with European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) values. This study aimed to characterize the functional capacity in preoperative cardiac surgery patients through HGS. Methods This cross‐sectional study investigated patients aged 18 years or older. The collected data included surgical risk (EuroSCORE), body mass index (BMI), body composition (electrical bioimpedance), and HGS. Results The mean age of the 278 participants was 62.1 ± 11.2 years, of whom 61.5% were male, 43.2% were overweight, and 26.3% were obese. The main types of surgery were myocardial revascularization (50%) and valve replacement (40.6%). HGS values differed between genders in all age groups (P < 0.05) and were approximately 40% lower than reference values for healthy individuals. The values differed with respect to operative risk (P = 0.003) and had a moderate positive correlation with fat‐free mass (rs = 0.435, P < 0.001), a moderate negative correlation with fat mass (rs = −0.447, P < 0.001), and weak negative correlations with age (rs = −0.270, P < 0.01) and EuroSCORE (rs = −0.316, P < 0.01). Conclusions The HGS values of preoperative elective cardiac surgery patients were below reference values for healthy individuals, were lower in male patients, were positively correlated with fat‐free mass, and were negatively correlated with fat mass, age, and operative risk. Its preoperative use in these patients is an attractive complementary method of risk assessment in clinical practice.

Low muscle strength and increased arterial stiffness go hand in hand

“…Since we may well infer from low HGS that PWV may be high-only 5.4% in the highest handgrip strength tertile had a high PWV > 11 m/s, compared to 39.4% in the lowest tertile-and measurement of HGS is done in a few seconds and inexpensive, it may be the ideal screening tool. In a similar vein, handgrip strength has been shown to correlate well with European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) values 60 .…”

<p>Grip Strength: An Indispensable Biomarker For Older Adults</p>

“…126 More recent studies, not addressed in the review, have evinced a relationship between grip strength and complications/post-operative risk in patients undergoing surgery for abdominal cancer 127 or elective cardiac surgery. 128 A contemporary study of patients hospitalized for hip fractures showed their grip strength to be associated with a risk of pressure ulcers. 129 The literature is inconsistent, but hospital and rehabilitation length of stay and readmission have been shown in several studies to correlate with grip strength.…”

Prognostic value of combined preoperative phase angle and handgrip strength in cardiac surgery

“…Previous studies have also shown that HS was correlated with the severity of the disease, with aging and mortality in elderly individuals [15,16]. Particularly in cardiac surgery, HS has been well-recognized as a preoperative risk assessment tool since weak HS has been associated with 1-year and 30-day mortality, heart failure, kidney disease, malnutrition, and various frailty scales [17][18][19]. Hence, our study concurs with the growing body of literature regarding the poor outcomes of cardiac surgery patients with low preoperative PA and HS, and adds that their combined assessment might be an option to consider as a risk stratification tool.…”