Simple Grip Test Could Predict Diabetes Risk

Measurement of grip strength could be useful in screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to the results of a recent study.

“As handgrip dynamometers are portable, cost-effective, and require minimal training, the use of a handgrip test for detecting T2DM risk in adults could be implemented in clinical and community settings. This practice could enhance early detection of T2DM, identifying those who may benefit from interventions and serve to monitor intervention effectiveness,” the authors wrote.

For their study, they examined data from the 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, including 5108 participants aged 20 to 80 years who were free from diabetes comorbidities. Muscular strength was assessed with handgrip dynamometer and normalized based on body weight.

Overall, they found that normalized grip strength was significantly associated with risk of diabetes, with cut points for detecting diabetes risk including 0.78 (young male participants), 0.57 (young female participants), 0.68 (older male participants), and 0.49 (older female participants).

“In apparently healthy adults, low MS is associated with increased risk of T2DM after controlling for known covariates. Established normalized grip strength cut points may be used in US adults for the detection of increased risk of T2DM. This tool can easily be implemented in clinical or public health domains to aid in the detection of T2DM. Further work is needed to establish the accuracy of these proposed cut points over a period,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:
Brown EC, Buchan DS, Madi SA, Gordon BN, Drignei D. grip strength cut points for diabetes risk among apparently healthy US adults [published online April 6, 2020]. Am J Prev Med. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.01.016