The late impact of Covid-19 has proven to be significant, largely affecting the functionality, ability to perform daily activities and the quality of life of its survivors. In Brazil, more than 39 million people have recovered from Covid-19, however, many of them still face persistent symptoms and are referred to rehabilitation programs. Muscle weakness is one of the post-Covid changes that causes concern, given the range of problems inherent to the loss of muscle strength for global health, especially among the elderly and in people with chronic illnesses.

To evaluate the peripheral muscle strength of people undergoing post-COVID-19 rehabilitation, with different levels of post-COVID-19 dysfunction. in the post-covid period, point to the discriminatory aspect of this scale in the assessment and assertive therapeutic prescriptions for this population.

Sectional study with a convenience sample composed of adults recovered from Covid-19. The degree of post-Covid dysfunction was assessed on admission using the post-Covid-19 Functional Status (PCFS) scale, in grades I to IV, characterized by the presence of persistent symptoms (grade I), with limitations in usual tasks (grade II), or with inability to perform some activities (grade III), and even severe dysfunctions including self-care (grade IV). Muscle strength was obtained by the handgrip strength (HGS) test in kilograms of force (kgf), with a Saehan® hydraulic dynamometer. The values obtained were analyzed in relation to the predicted values and between subgroups with different PCFS levels using the Student's T test, adopting a significance level of 5%.

68 people were evaluated between May/2021 and July/2022, aged 50 ± 14.7 years, 41 women (60%) and 40 with PCFS grade II (59%), which indicates the presence of persistent symptoms and reduced performance in activities. The post-covid time was 66 days, ranging from 19 to 485 days since diagnosis. Furthermore, 37 individuals were hospitalized for acute Covid (54%), 43 were previously sedentary (63%) and the majority were overweight or obese (83%). The FPP obtained was lower than predicted for the total sample and when distributed by PCFS grades, not differing significantly between the groups by PCFS. Then, HGS was compared between the subgroups of grades I/II with those of grades III/IV, for which there was a similar proportion of sedentary people and those hospitalized for Covid-19. The proportion of women was higher in the subgroup with PCFS III/IV (92% × 53%). BMI (body mass index) was higher in the PCFS I/II group (30.9 × 27.6 kg/m²; p:0.052). People with PCFS I/II had higher HGS than people with grades III/IV (29.4±11.2 × 18.23 ± 6.89 kgf, respectively; p:0.0008).

Post-covid HGS was generally compromised, but significantly among people with a higher degree of post-covid dysfunction, as measured by the PCFS scale.

These findings, in addition to showing the need for monitoring and intervention to recover muscle strength in the post-covid period, point to the discriminatory aspect of this scale in the assessment and assertive therapeutic prescriptions for this population.