Journal article
Associations of height, weight, and body mass index with handgrip strength: A Bayesian comparison in older adults
Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, Vol.54, pp.206-210
2023
Abstract
Background & aims:
Handgrip strength is commonly normalized or stratified by body size to define subgroup-specific cut-points and reference limits values. However, it remains unclear which anthropometric variable is most strongly associated with handgrip strength. We aimed to, in older adults with no self-reported mobility limitations, determine whether height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were meaningfully associated with handgrip strength.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study included community-dwelling ambulant participants, and we identified 775 older adults who reported no difficulty walking 100 m, climbing stairs, and rising from the chair. Handgrip strength was measured with a digital dynamometer. Bayesian linear regression was used to estimate the probabilities that the positive associations of height, weight, and BMI with handgrip strength exceeded 0 kg (the null value) and 2.5 kg (the clinically meaningful threshold value).
Results:
Mean handgrip strength was 22.1 kg (SD, 4) for women and 32.9 kg (SD, 6) for men. Body height, weight, and BMI had >99.9% probabilities of a positive association with handgrip strength; however, the associations of per interquartile increase in body weight and BMI with handgrip strength had low probabilities (<5%) of exceeding the clinically meaningful threshold of 2.5 kg. In contrast, body height had the highest probability (99.6%) of a clinically meaningful association with handgrip strength: adjusting for age and gender, handgrip strength was 3.2 kg (95% CrI, 2.7 to 3.8) greater in older adults 1.61 m tall than in older adults 1.51 m tall.
Conclusions:
In a large sample of mobile-intact older adults, handgrip strength differed meaningfully by body height. Although requiring validation, our findings suggest that future efforts should be directed at normalizing handgrip strength by body height to better define subgroup-specific handgrip weakness. A web-based application (https://sghpt.shinyapps.io/ippts/) was created to allow interactive exploration of predicted values and reference limits of age-, gender-, and height-subgroups.
Details
- Title
- Associations of height, weight, and body mass index with handgrip strength: A Bayesian comparison in older adults
- Authors
- Yong-Hao Pua (Corresponding Author) - Singapore General HospitalLaura Tay (Author) - Sengkang General HospitalRoss Allan Clark (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Public HealthJulian Thumboo (Author) - Duke-NUS Medical SchoolEe-Ling Tay (Author) - Sengkang General HospitalShi-Min Mah (Author) - Sengkang General HospitalYee-Sien Ng (Author) - Singapore General Hospital
- Publication details
- Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, Vol.54, pp.206-210
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.clnesp.2023.01.028
- ISSN
- 2405-4577
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Public Health
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99707446502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
49 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Nutrition & Dietetics
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites