Original articleGrip Strength in Older Adults: Test-Retest Reliability and Cutoff for Subjective Weakness of Using the Hands in Heavy Tasks
Section snippets
Participants
Subjects were recruited from local communities through local advertisements and flyers. Older adults who participated in activities at community centers were approached by a research assistant asking for their consent to participate. Those who met the following criteria were included: (1) aged 60 years or older, (2) living in the community, and (3) able to understand the instructions and perform the physical tests. People with the following conditions were excluded: (1) lesions/diseases of the
Results
Community-dwelling elderly adults (N=469) participated in this study. This study sample included 249 (53.1%) women and 220 (46.9%) men with a mean ± SD age of 73.1±6.7 years. There were 311 (66.3%) in the able group (able to perform both heavy tasks) and 158 (33.7%) in the disabled group (need help or unable to perform at least 1 heavy task).
Demographic statistics of participants are listed in table 1. The able group was younger, had fewer comorbid conditions, and walked faster in both the male
Discussion
The aims of this study were to examine and compare the test-retest reliability of grip-strength measures using the mean value, the best value, and the first of 2 measurements, as well as to identify cutoff values for separating older adults into able and disabled groups for performing heavy tasks with their hands in a group of Taiwanese community-dwelling older adults. Consistent with previous studies, our results support the test-retest reliability of grip-strength measurement in a group of
Conclusions
Test-retest reliability of grip-strength measurement was acceptable in a group of Taiwanese older adults when the first value, the best value, or the mean value of 2 measurements was used. Older adults at an early stage of physical decline are in danger of further decline, but they may respond well to timely identification and intervention. The reported mean and cutoff values could provide clinicians with a reference to interpret test results when assessing older adults and also could serve as
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Supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan (grant nos. NSC 94-2314-B-277-004, NSC97-2314-B-040-005).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.