Paffrath, Anna, Kim, Laura, Kedor, Claudia et al. · Journal of clinical medicine · 2024 · DOI
Researchers tested hand grip strength in 144 women with long-COVID symptoms, comparing those who met strict ME/CFS criteria (78 patients) with those who had other long-COVID symptoms. People with ME/CFS showed weaker grip strength and more severe disability, fatigue, and symptom worsening after activity compared to other long-COVID patients. Weak grip strength appeared to be connected to the core symptoms that define ME/CFS, suggesting muscle weakness in ME/CFS may share a common cause with other hallmark symptoms.
This study provides objective biological evidence that ME/CFS after COVID differs mechanistically from other long-COVID presentations, validating the distinct clinical status of ME/CFS. The correlation between grip strength and ME/CFS-specific symptoms suggests researchers should investigate shared underlying mechanisms, potentially leading to targeted diagnostics and treatments for this severe subtype.
This study does not prove that impaired grip strength causes ME/CFS symptoms or vice versa—it only shows they correlate. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine temporal relationships or causality. The findings apply only to female patients with post-COVID ME/CFS and may not generalize to other ME/CFS populations or men with similar conditions.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Paffrath, Anna, Kim, Laura, Kedor, Claudia, Stein, Elisa, Rust, Rebekka, Freitag, Helma, et al. (2024). Impaired Hand Grip Strength Correlates with Greater Disability and Symptom Severity in Post-COVID Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.. Journal of clinical medicine. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13072153
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-paffrath-2024-impaired-hand,
author = {Paffrath, Anna and Kim, Laura and Kedor, Claudia and Stein, Elisa and Rust, Rebekka and Freitag, Helma and Hoppmann, Uta and Hanitsch, Leif G and Bellmann-Strobl, Judith and Wittke, Kirsten and Scheibenbogen, Carmen and Sotzny, Franziska},
title = {Impaired Hand Grip Strength Correlates with Greater Disability and Symptom Severity in Post-COVID Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of clinical medicine},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.3390/jcm13072153},
note = {PubMed: 38610918},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/paffrath-2024-impaired-hand},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/paffrath-2024-impaired-hand
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