Reference Values for Handgrip Strength in the Basque Country Elderly Population

Differences in Functional Capacity between Oncologic and Non-Oncologic Populations: Reference Values

This study is focused on the fact that in the context of increasing global aging and cancer diagnoses, additional challenges arise in clinical care. Adequate functionality and body composition are key to coping with antineoplastic treatment, which can lead to better treatment tolerance, survival, and quality of life. This is a cross-sectional comparative study focused on the assessment and comparison of body composition and functionality between cancer patients and a reference population, with the aim of establishing meaningful baseline values. Techniques such as manual dynamometry, the Five-Times Sit-to-Stand test, and bioimpedance were used to collect data from 374 oncologic patients and 1244 reference individuals. The results reveal significant disparities in functionality and body composition among participants, and provide age group-specific adjusted baseline values for those diagnosed with cancer. These findings may have crucial clinical implications for applying particular cut-off points designed for this population group, which makes the assessment process faster and more accurate, enhances the capacity of medical personnel to act quickly, and improves the management of frailty in cancer patients.

Influence of Single-Digit Exclusions on Grip Strength in Healthy Male Adults

Grip strength (GS) of the human hand is vital to deal with objects of various sizes and shapes in daily life. The strength deteriorates if one or more digits of the hand are amputated. The main aim of this study was to determine the influence of single-digit exclusions on the GS. Healthy adults (n = 102, male) with an age range of 20 to 70 years (mean ± SD, 31.92 ± 13.14 years) participated in the study. The movements of unused digits were restrained using splints to avoid digit enslaving effects. T (Thumb), (I) Index, M (Middle), R (Ring), L (Little) digits were chosen for exclusion based on the digit configurations. The digit configurations were IMRL, MRLT, IMRT IRLT and, IMLT with exclusions T, I, L, M, and, R respectively. The results of two-way ANOVA with repeated measures showed no significant interaction (p = 0.923) between hand dominance and digit configurations. But statistical significance (p = 0.000) was observed in digit configurations and hand dominance individually. The results of posthoc analysis using Bonferroni corrected pairwise comparisons showed no statistical significance (p = 0.004) between IRLT and IMLT of both hands since the corrected p-value was 0.003. The outcomes of the F-test showed no statistical significance (p > 0.05) between the digit configurations IMRLT, IMRL; IMRL, MRLT; MRLT, IMRT; IRLT, IMLT individually within dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) hands. When the F-test was performed using the same digit configurations between both hands, statistical significance was not observed in all the configurations except IMLT (p < 0.05). The results of the Pearson correlation of GS were observed to be very strong between the same digit configurations of D and ND hands.

The Effects of Using a Low-Cost and Easily Accessible Exercise Toolkit Incorporated to the Governmental Health Program on Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Quasi-Experimental Study

The Community Care Station (CCS) service was initiated by the Taiwanese government as a part of its elderly social services programs. This study aimed to investigate the effects of using an inexpensive exercise toolkit, containing a stick, theraband, sandbag and a small ball, led by a physical therapist among community-dwelling older adults participating in CCS. A total of 90 participants (aged 77.0 ± 6.8 years) were recruited and divided into an intervention group (n = 45) and a comparison group (n = 45). The intervention group regularly participated in a health promotion program with the exercise toolkit for approximately 90 min per twice-weekly session for 3 months, and the comparison group maintained their usual CCS activity program. Both groups were assessed before and after the 3-month intervention period. Outcome measures included the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), one-leg stance, functional reach (FR), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and 10 m walk tests; 83 participants completed the study. No significant between-group differences were found at baseline in general characteristics or outcome variables. After 3 months, the intervention group showed the significant group x time interaction effects in SPPB, one-leg stance, FR, TUG and 10 m walk tests compared to the comparison group (p < 0.05).; A structured group-based health promotion program using a low-cost exercise toolkit could be effective in improving the physical performances, balance, and walking ability of community-dwelling older adults receiving CCS program services. Furthermore, the comparison group maintained most of their physical performances, even showing significant progress on FR.

Role of handgrip strength in predicting new-onset diabetes: findings from the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe

BACKGROUND

Diabetes is a major concern for the global health burden. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between handgrip strength (HGS) and the risk of new-onset diabetes and to compare the predictive abilities between relative HGS and dominant HGS.

METHODS

This longitudinal study used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), including 66,100 European participants aged 50 years or older free of diabetes at baseline. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the relationship between HGS and diabetes, and the Harrell's C index, net reclassification index (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were calculated to evaluate the predictive abilities of different HGS expressions.

RESULTS

There were 5,661 diabetes events occurred during follow-up. Compared with individuals with lowest quartiles, the hazard ratios (95 % confidence intervals) of the 2nd-4th quartiles were 0.88 (0.81-0.94), 0.82 (0.76-0.89) and 0.85 (0.78-0.93) for dominant HGS, and 0.95 (0.88-1.02), 0.82 (0.76-0.89) and 0.60 (0.54-0.67) for relative HGS. After adding dominant HGS to an office-based risk score (including age, gender, body mass index, smoking, and hypertension), the incremental values of the Harrell's C index, NRI, IDI of relative HGS were all slightly higher than those of dominant HGS in both training and validation sets.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings supported that HGS was an independent predictor of new-onset diabetes in the middle-aged and older European population. Moreover, relative HGS exhibited a slightly higher predictive ability than dominant HGS.