According to a recent medical study, the strength of one’s hand grip could reveal if one is at risk of developing certain illnesses, including cardiovascular disease.
The study was conducted by a group of researchers from Hamilton and found that the firmness of the hand grip could tell if one is in good health or not.
The researchers found that a reduced strength of the muscles is often linked with disabilities, various illnesses and even early death.
The recent study was conducted by a team of scientists from the Population Health Research Institute of McMaster University in collaboration with Hamilton Health Sciences.
The findings were published in the journal The Lancet.
Dr. Darryl Leong, assistant professor of medicine at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and one of the researchers involved in the study, explained that the strength of one’s grip could be an inexpensive and very facile method of assessing one’s risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.
Dr. Leong added that doctors and healthcare officials can actually measure the grip strength of the patients in order to identify whether they are at risk of developing serious illnesses, such as stroke and heart failure.
Also, the strength of the patient’s grip could reveal if there is a high risk of dying because of the illness.
The new study involved more than 140,000 adult participants between the ages of 35 and 70. The patients were followed for more than four years in 17 countries.
The doctors measured the strength of their muscles using a handgrip dynamometer.
The participants were part of a project called Prospective Urban-Rural Epidemiology or PURE.
According to the researchers, the study revealed that for every 5 kg decline in the patient’s grip strength, there was 1 in 6 increased risk of dying from an illness.
The scientists found that there was a 17% risk that the patients could die of a cardiovascular disease like stroke or heart failure.
The link between a person’s grip strength and the risk of developing a heart disease was not accounted for by differences in sex, age, level of education, employment status, tobacco and alcohol habits, exercise, diet, body mass index, etc.
A healthy, strong hand grip depends on the size and weight of the individual, and according to this study, it also varied with the ethnicity of the individuals.
Professor Leong added that further research is needed in order to determine whether improving one’s muscle strength can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.
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