Sit to stand test and handgrip strength in men and women with post-COVID-19 syndrome without invasive ventilator support: insights from a Brazilian observational study

Abstract

Two valid tests have been used in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome (coronavirus disease 2019) due to their fast application, feasibility, and accessible procedures, facilitating data collection in large groups: the 1-minute sit-to-stand test (STS) and handgrip strength (HGS) dynamometry. The present study aimed to: i) assess the STS and HGS in men and women with post-COVID-19 syndrome who did not require invasive ventilator support; ii) correlate STS repetitions and HGS with time since the COVID-19 diagnosis. Six hundred and twenty-two men and women with post-COVID-19 syndrome who did not require invasive ventilatory support performed the STS and HGS tests at the beginning of the rehabilitation process at a Reference Hospital Centre. Women over 55 years presented significantly lower results compared to participants under 55 years. For the HGS, the median ranged from 42 to 48 kg and 70 to 81 kg for the female and male groups, respectively. The correlations of time since COVID-19 diagnosis with STS and HGS ranged from -0.16 to 0.02 (p>0.05) for women and men, respectively.The test results could be used for the initial analysis of normality ranges and comparisons with other populations. Although STS repetitions and HGS presented low and non-significant correlations with time since the COVID-19 diagnosis, some COVID-19 sequelae were not measured, so these data should be interpreted with caution.