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Updated: Jan 10, 2026
Manual Muscle Testing: A Method of Measuring Extremity Muscle Strength Applied to Critically Ill Patients
Published on: April 12, 2011
Diagnostic validity of Handgrip strength for ICU-acquired weakness in Mexican population
Miguel Ángel Martínez-Camacho1, Robert Alexander Jones-Baro2, Alberto Gómez-González3
1Critical Care Physiotherapy Service, Hospital General de México "Dr. Eduardo Liceaga,", Mexico City, Mexico; Doctoral Program in Health Sciences, Universidad Anáhuac, State of Mexico, Mexico; Physiotherapy Program, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico.
None:
Patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) are at high risk of developing functional and muscular impairments due to critical illness. ICU-acquired weakness (ICUAW) is characterized by a bilateral reduction in muscle strength without underlying causes other than the critical illness and extended ICU stay. Handgrip strength (HGS) is a common tool used for its diagnosis; however, it has not been specifically validated for the Mexican population.
Objective:
To assess the diagnostic validity of handgrip strength for identifying ICUAW in the Mexican population.
Materials And Methods:
This retrospective observational study was based on the analysis of Critical Care Physical Therapy Service records at the General Hospital of Mexico. Patients >18 years old with muscle strength evaluations using the Medical Research Council Sum-Score (MRC-SS) and HGS measurements recorded in their clinical files were included. A ROC curve analysis was conducted to determine the optimal cutoff point for diagnosing ICUAW in this population.
Results:
A total of 238 patients were included in the analysis, with an ICUAW) prevalence of 12.23 %. The conventional cutoff points (<7 kg for women and <11 kg for men) demonstrated high specificity but low sensitivity in the Mexican population. To improve diagnostic sensitivity, new cutoff values of <10 kg for women and <12.5 kg for men are proposed, yielding an AUC of 0.91 (95 % CI: 0.85-0.97) for both sexes. The diagnostic performance at these cutoff points showed a sensitivity of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.87 in women, and a sensitivity of 0.77 and a specificity of 0.81 in men.
Conclusion:
The HGS appears to be a valid tool for identifying ICUAW in the Mexican population.
