RT Journal
A1 Xue Q, Walston JD, Fried LP, Beamer BA
T1 Prediction of risk of falling, physical disability, and frailty by rate of decline in grip strength: The women's health and aging study
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2011
FD June 27
VO 171
IS 12
SP 1119
OP 1121
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.252
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.252
AB 
Aging people progressively lose skeletal muscle mass and strength.1 Epidemiologically, a single measurement of grip strength has repeatedly proven to correlate with subsequent adverse health outcomes2 even when measured in midlife to predict physical disability decades later.3 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.”2,4 However, it remains unclear whether the risk of developing adverse outcomes is greater or less for a person who is relatively weak compared with other age-matched individuals than it is for a relatively strong person whose strength is declining rapidly. We hypothesized that those with a faster rate of decline would be at higher risk compared with those who had a weaker single grip measurement. We tested this hypothesis using longitudinal data from older women studied for the evolution of disability and functional decline with aging.