Prediction of risk of falling, physical disability, and frailty by rate of decline in grip strength: the women's health and aging study.

Aging people progressively lose skeletal muscle mass and strength. Epidemiologically, a single measurement of grip strength has repeatedly proven to correlate with subsequent adverse health outcomes even when measured in midlife to predict physical disability decades later. This has led some to propose that grip strength be used clinically as an indicator of risk for decline in health, or even as a new “vital sign.”

This study suggests that measuring grip strength over repeated clinic visits may provide useful risk assessment information to patients, families, and clinicians. What most needs to be demonstrated to make grip strength more useful clinically, however, is whether it should trigger any specific interventions or diagnostic efforts. Until we know much more about the clinical relevance and underlying causes of change, it may be premature to promote grip strength—even its trajectory—as a “vital sign.” > from Xue et al.; Arch Intern Med 171 (2011) 1119-1121. All rights reserved to the American Medical Association.

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How do we test the grip strength correct and measurable? See the YouTube clip below.