A new study says that a weak hand grip can be associated to higher risk of dying from both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular diseases. Thus, grip strength could be a good predictor of higher risk of death from such diseases.
"One important message is really how vulnerable you are to dying of a range of illnesses if you have lower grip strength," lead researcher Darryl Leong, an assistant professor of medicine at McMaster and a cardiologist at the hospital told CBC News.
The study involved around 140,000 participants from 17 diverse countries like Canada, Sweden, and Pakistan. The researchers followed the participants who were ages 35 to 70 for around four years.
"This study really strengthens the case for using grip strength as a marker," Dr. Bob McLean of Harvard Medical School's Institute for Aging Research, who was not involved in the study, told NBC News.
They found out that for every 10 or so pounds of lost grip strength, these people have at least 16 percent higher risk of dying with the next four years due to any disease or cause. Furthermore, they were also 17% higher risk of dying from heart attack of stroke. Lastly, they were 7% at higher risk of having a non-fatal heart attack.
Dr. Leong said, ""Grip strength could be an easy and inexpensive test to assess an individual's risk of death and cardiovascular disease. Further research is needed to establish whether efforts to improve muscle strength are likely to reduce an individual's risk of death and cardiovascular disease."
The grip test is a very affordable and simple test to examine and determine the well-being of patients. "It's not a very sophisticated test, but I think in many ways that's the beauty of it," Leong told CBC News.
This test could mean that probable death from diseases could be seen with this test. Hence, early diagnostics and treatment can be prompted.
