Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2020

Publication Title

Age and Ageing

Volume

49

Abstract

Objective: To estimate temporal trends in handgrip strength (HGS) for older Japanese adults between 1998 and 2017.

Design and Methods: Adults aged 60–79 years were included. Annual nationally representative HGS data (n=176,449) for the 19-year study period were obtained from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Temporal trends in mean HGS were estimated by sample-weighted regression models relating the year of testing to mean HGS. National trends in absolute, percent and standardized HGS were estimated by a post-stratified population-weighting procedure. Temporal trends in variability were estimated as the ratio of coefficients of variation (CVs).

Results: Collectively, there was a small improvement in mean HGS of 1.4 kg (95%CI: 1.3–1.5), 4.5% (95%CI: 4.3–4.7), or 0.27 standard deviations (95%CI: 0.26–0.28) between 1998 and 2017. The rate of improvement progressively increased over time, with more recent values (post-2008) 1.5-fold larger than earlier values. Gender- and age-related temporal differences were negligible. Variability in HGS declined substantially over time (ratio of CVs [95%CI]: 0.88 [0.86–0.90]), with declines 1.9-fold larger in women compared to men, and 1.7-fold larger in 70–79-year-olds compared to 60–69-year-olds.

Conclusions: There has been a small, progressive improvement in mean HGS for older Japanese adults since 1998, which is suggestive of a corresponding improvement in overall strength capacity. The substantial decline in variability indicates that the improvement in mean HGS was not uniform across the population.

Issue

4

First Page

634

Last Page

639

DOI

10.1093/ageing/afaa021

ISSN

1468-2834

Rights

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Age and Ageingfollowing peer review. The version of record

Tomkinson, G. R., Kidokoro, T., Dufner, T., Noi, S., Fitzgerald, J. S., & Mcgrath, R. P. (2020). Temporal trends in handgrip strength for older Japanese adults between 1998 and 2017. Age and Ageing, 49(4), 634–639. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaa021

is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaa021

Download

Share

COinS