Abstract
Background
Evidence from the literature demonstrates that the risk of decreased handgrip strength is associated with various health issues, particularly in older persons. To make judgments regarding their general health condition that are well-informed for longevity, it is crucial to assess the risk level of decreased handgrip strength among community-dwelling older adult Indians. However, no study has examined the relationship between biological aging and the risk of decreased handgrip strength in Indian men and women aged 60 and older. The goal of the current study was to fill this gap in the literature.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, we included 31,464 (15,098 men and 16,366 women) community-dwelling older adult Indians aged 60 years and older using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI). The LASI is the world’s most extensive and India’s first multidisciplinary, internationally harmonized, longitudinal aging study. It has enrolled 72,250 individuals aged 45 and above across all 28 states and 8 union territories of India. Secondary analysis of biological ageing was performed by stratifying for age groups (60–64, 65–69, 70–74, 75–79, 80–84, and 85 + years) for both genders. The dominant right and nondominant left handgrip strength was assessed using the portable Smedley’s Hand Dynamometer. All individuals had a dominant right hand. The adjusted logistic regression analysis assessed the association between biological ageing and the risk of decreased handgrip strength for both genders.
Results
Compared to those between the ages of 60–64, those at age 65 and those aged 85 and above had 1-fold and 12-fold odds of decreasing handgrip strength, respectively. Men 85 years or older had a 12-fold higher chance than women in the same age group of having decreased handgrip strength.
Conclusions
The results indicate that community-dwelling older adult Indians aged 65 years and older are significantly associated with a higher risk of decreased handgrip strength, especially among older men. The results of this study can help assess and implement handgrip strength measurement in medicine for older Indians as part of regular admission assessment, particularly for older men.
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Introduction
Given the ageing population around the world [2, 53]. Findings also highlight the need to remember that the World Health Organization’s Guidelines on Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) support enhancing physical and mental capacity with a thorough strategy catered to each older adult’s unique needs and goals, including multimodal exercise, nutritional interventions, and cognitive stimulation, supported by suitable health and social care systems and service providers [53, 54]. Although lower handgrip strength has been linked to depression [22, 23] and other conditions, such as future fall [55], functional difficulties in activities of daily living [13, 53], disability [56, 57], a higher prevalence of cancer [58], and short-term mortality [59] in old age, greater discussion in the context of biological ageing is necessary to determine the relevance of these findings for public policy. However, there are signs of what can help older persons live better lives, such as policies and initiatives that support better nutrition and target older populations in low-resource sectors. Handgrip strength can be increased with currently available therapies, such as increasing protein intake [60]. To promote healthy ageing, more steps must be taken to lessen the disparity in access to proper nutrition, for instance by focusing on people of lower socioeconomic levels [50].
The primary strength of the present study is the first study that assessed the association between biological ageing and the risk level of decreased handgrip strength for community-dwelling men and women aged 60 years and above, using large data from LASI carried in all 28 states and 8 union territories of India. Earlier studies explored how grip strength has been associated with depression [22, 23] and other health conditions [56, 57]. Also, the present study’s participants differ from the above-referenced other studies, probably owing to variations in age, recruitment, and geographical region [31, 35, 42, 43, 47]. For example, studies [8, 39] generated the level of handgrip strength by recruiting adult participants from a few Indian states [13, 20, 39] or a single-center Geriatric Medicine Clinic [8, 39]. Moreover, handgrip strength was measured with a well-accepted, reliable, and valid tool hand dynamometer for community-dwelling older adults [42]. Other strengths are that this is the first study that reported grip strength by gender, hand, and age groups. In addition, this study had a good representative sample for all six age groups to accommodate handgrip for this community-dwelling older population. However, the present study has a limitation in the absence of palm length, upper arm, participant’s height, and waist circumferences [42] along with the participant’s hand sensations [61]. These factors might have influenced the validity of the study results.
Conclusion
Biological ageing was significantly linked to a higher risk of decreased handgrip strength in community-dwelling older Indian, particularly among older men. However, handgrip strength in this population is similar to Saudi Arabians, Singaporeans, and Taiwanese normative values. A thorough geriatric assessment, which takes into account handgrip strength, is required to better identify the likelihood that older people will have a bad prognosis. The findings of this study may be useful in determining handgrip strength measurements for older Indians as part of routine admittance assessments. The association with several influential factors in this population must be investigated through prospective studies.
Data availability
The study is based on LASI data available for free public access at the International Institute for Population Science: https://www.iipsindia.ac.in/content/LASI-data.
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Acknowledgements
This research work was supported by the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSPD2023R1094), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Funding
The Researchers Supporting Project number (RSPD2023R1094), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, funded this study.
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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. This is a cross-sectional study based on the secondary data analysis of the LASI. The LASI survey was reviewed and approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the LASI study.
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Vennu, V. Biological ageing and the risk of decreased handgrip strength among community-dwelling older adult Indians: a cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatr 23, 782 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04498-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04498-6