Abstract
Objectives
Assessing handgrip strength (HGS) asymmetry may provide insights into HGS as a prognostic
assessment of strength capacity and vitality. This study sought to determine the associations
of HGS asymmetry and weakness on time to mortality in aging Americans.
Design
Longitudinal panel.
Setting
Secondary analyses of data from participants aged ≥50 years from the 2006‒2014 waves
of the Health and Retirement Study.
Participants
The analytic sample included 19,325 Americans who identified hand dominance and had
measures of HGS for both hands in a single wave.
Measures
A handgrip dynamometer was used to measure HGS. Men and women who were considered
weak had HGS <26 kg and <16 kg, respectively. The highest HGS values from the dominant
and nondominant hands were used to calculate HGS ratio: (nondominant HGS/dominant
HGS). Those with HGS ratio <0.90 or >1.10 had any HGS asymmetry. Moreover, participants
with HGS ratio <0.90 had dominant HGS asymmetry, whereas those with HGS ratio >1.10
had nondominant HGS asymmetry. The National Death Index and postmortem interviews
verified date of death. Covariate-adjusted Cox models were used for analyses.
Results
Those with any HGS asymmetry had a 1.10 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03‒1.17] higher
hazard for mortality, while those with weakness had a 1.44 (CI 1.32‒1.58) higher hazard
for mortality. Likewise, participants with dominant HGS asymmetry had a 1.11 (CI 1.03‒1.18)
higher hazard for mortality, and those with weakness had a 1.45 (CI 1.32‒1.58) higher
hazard for mortality; however, the association was not significant for those with
nondominant HGS asymmetry (hazard ratio: 1.07; CI 0.96‒1.18).
Conclusions and Implications
HGS asymmetry and weakness are markers of impaired strength capacity that independently
accelerate time to mortality, but the magnitude of these associations was more prominent
for weakness. Nevertheless, assessments of asymmetric HGS are a simple adjunct analysis
that may show promise for increasing the prognostic value of handgrip dynamometers.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 28, 2020
Footnotes
This research did not receive any funding from agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
