Associations of Grip Strength and Change in Grip Strength With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a European Older Population.

OBJECTIVE

(1) To examine the associations between 3 measures of grip strength: static grip strength, change in grip strength, and the combination of grip strength and its change, with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and (2) to determine which measure is the most powerful predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among the European older population.

METHOD

Data come from the first 4 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A Cox proportional hazard model and a competing risk regression model were used to assess the associations. To determine the best predictor, Akaike information criterion was applied.

RESULTS

Grip strength and the combination of grip strength and its change were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Change in grip strength was correlated with only all-cause mortality. Among the 3 measures, the static measure of grip strength was the best predictor of cardiovascular mortality whereas the combined measure is that of all-cause mortality.

DISCUSSION

Grip strength is a significant indicator of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The combination of grip strength and its change can be used to increase the accuracy for prediction of all-cause mortality among older persons.