Asociación entre la fuerza de prensión de la mano y la capacidad cardiorrespiratoria en insuficiencia cardíaca con fracción de eyección reducida y levemente reducida

Introduction: Individuals with heart failure (HF) report exercise limitation that is associated with lower quality of life. Metabolic alterations at the skeletal muscle at the extremities level are a contributor. Objective: To evaluate the association between handgrip strength and cardiorespiratory capacity with peak oxygen consumption (VO₂ p) in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction. Methods: Cross-sectional observational study. Adults with HF with ejection fraction < 50% with optimal medical therapy and a cardiopulmonary exercise test were included. Cardiorespiratory capacity data were obtained from ergospirometry tests. Handgrip strength was assessed with a Jamar dynamometer. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used with a level of statistical significance p < 0.05. Results: Thirty-three participants were evaluated. The average age was 60.5 years (SD: 9.54), and 39.3% were women. The main etiology was ischemic heart disease (43%). The mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 31.5% (SD: 9.7). The average VO₂ p was 15.1 ml/kg/min (SD: 4.5), and the percentage of predicted VO₂ p was 55.5% (SD: 19.3). A moderate correlation was found between absolute handgrip strength and VO₂ p (r = 0.454; p = 0.008). No association was found when stratifying by NT-proBNP tertiles. Conclusions: There is a moderate positive correlation between handgrip strength and VO₂ p. These results suggest measuring handgrip strength within the routine evaluation of patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction.