In 2015, a study published in The Lancet enrolled 139,691 adults across 17 countries, measured grip strength, and tracked cardiovascular events and mortality over approximately four years. Every 5 kilogram reduction in grip strength was associated with a 17 percent increase in cardiovascular mortality, a 17 percent increase in all-cause mortality, and a 9 percent increase in stroke risk. The strength of this association exceeded that of systolic blood pressure across all age groups and both sexes. The authors concluded that grip strength is a reliable marker of overall muscle quality and should be included in routine cardiovascular risk assessment.
Why Grip Strength Reflects Systemic Health
Grip strength is not specifically a measure of hand or forearm health. It reflects the overall capacity of the musculoskeletal system, which is in turn a reflection of muscle protein synthesis rates, hormonal status, insulin sensitivity, neurological function, and chronic inflammation. All of the factors that reduce overall muscle quality reduce grip strength. This is why grip strength is such a reliable proxy: it captures the integrated output of multiple systems rather than any single parameter.
Normative Values and Decline With Age
Grip strength peaks in the mid-thirties for both men and women and declines from that point. Average grip strength in a healthy 40-year-old man is approximately 46 kilograms; by 70 this has typically fallen to 34 kilograms. Women decline from approximately 28 kilograms at 40 to 22 kilograms at 70. These are averages; the range is wide, and adults who resistance train consistently maintain grip strength significantly above the population average throughout ageing.
Sources
- Leong, D.P., et al. (2015). Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. The Lancet, 386(9990), 266-273.
- Rantanen, T., et al. (2000). Midlife hand grip strength as a predictor of old age disability. JAMA, 283(4), 558-560.
- Bohannon, R.W. (2019). Grip strength: an indispensable biomarker for older adults. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 14, 1681-1691.