The association between handgrip strength and future health outcomes does not differ if grip strength is used in absolute or relative terms: a prospective cohort study

Ho, F. K.W. et al. (2019) The association between handgrip strength and future health outcomes does not differ if grip strength is used in absolute or relative terms: a prospective cohort study. Age and Ageing, 48(5), pp. 683-691. (doi: 10.1093/ageing/afz068) (PMID:31204772)

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Abstract

Background: higher grip strength is associated with better health outcomes. The optimal way to report grip strength (i.e. absolute vs. relative) for prediction, however, remains to be established. Methods: in participants (aged 37–73 at baseline) from the UK Biobank, we examined the associations of grip strength, expressed in absolute terms (kilograms) and relative to anthropometric variables, with mortality and disease incidence, after exclusion of the first 2 years of follow-up, and compared risk predictions scores of handgrip strength when differentially expressed. Results: of the 356 721 participants included in the analysis 6,234 died (1.7%) and 4,523 developed CVD (1.3%) over a mean follow-up of 5.0 years (ranging from 3.3 to 7.8) for mortality and 4.1 years (ranging from 2.4 to 7.0) for disease incidence data. As expected, baseline higher grip strength was associated with lower risk of all-cause and cause specific mortality and incidence. These associations did not meaningfully differ when grip-strength was expressed in absolute terms, vs. relative to height, weight, fat-free mass, BMI, fat-free mass index and fat-free mass, or as z-scores. Similarly the different ways of expressing grip strength had little effect on the ability of grip strength to improve risk prediction, based on C-index change, of an office-based risk score. Conclusions: the ability of grip strength to predict mortality is not altered by changing how it is expressed.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The UK Biobank was supported by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Scottish government, and Northwest Regional Development Agency. It has also had funding from the Welsh Assembly government and British Heart Foundation.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gill, Professor Jason and Sillars, Dr Anne and Ho, Dr Frederick and Anderson, Dr Jana and Mackay, Professor Daniel and Welsh, Dr Claire and Welsh, Professor Paul and Celis, Dr Carlos and Gray, Professor Stuart and Pell, Professor Jill and Petermann-Rocha, Mrs Fanny and Sattar, Professor Naveed and Lyall, Dr Donald
Authors: Ho, F. K.W., Celis-Morales, C. A., Petermann, F., Sillars, A., Welsh, P., Welsh, C., Anderson, J., Lyall, D. M., Mackay, D. F., Sattar, N., Gill, J. M.R., Pell, J. P., and Gray, S. R.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > General Practice and Primary Care
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Public Health
Journal Name:Age and Ageing
Publisher:Oxford University Press
ISSN:0002-0729
ISSN (Online):1468-2834
Published Online:06 September 2019
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 The Authors
First Published:First published in Age and Aging 48(5):683-691
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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