Study shows it can be an indicator of long term health and possible disease risks
Grip strength is known to be a predictors of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, disability and even early mortality. Now, for the first time a new study shows it can also be a predictor of adolescent health over time.
“What we know about today’s kids is that because of the prevalence of obesity, they are more at risk for developing pre-diabetes and cardiovascular disease than previous generations,” said senior author Paul M. Gordon, Ph.D., professor and chair of health, human performance and recreation in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences.
He added: “This study gives multiple snapshots over time that provide more insight about grip strength and future risks for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Low grip strength could be used to predict cardiometabolic risk and to identify adolescents who would benefit from lifestyle changes to improve muscular fitness.”
The study — “Grip Strength is Associated with Longitudinal Health Maintenance and Improvement in Adolescents” — has been published in the Journal of Pediatrics. It was conducted by researchers at Baylor University, the University of Michigan and the University of New England.
Over the course of the study, boys and girls with weak grips were more than three times as likely to decline in health or maintain poor health as those who were strong
Students tracked in the study were assessed in the fall of their fourth-grade year and at the end of the fifth grade. Using the norms for grip strengths in boys and girls, researchers measured the students’ grips in their dominant and non-dominant hands with an instrument called a handgrip dynamometer.
Researchers found that initially, 27.9 percent of the boys and 20.1 percent of the girls were classified as weak. Over the course of the study, boys and girls with weak grips were more than three times as likely to decline in health or maintain poor health as those who were strong.
Researchers also screened for and analyzed other metabolic risk factor indicators, including physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition (the proportion of fat and fat-free mass), blood pressure, family history, fasting blood lipids and glucose levels.
“Even after taking into account other factors like cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity and lean body mass, we continue to see an independent association between grip strength and both cardiometabolic health maintenance and health improvements,” Gordon said.
