There’s measuring cholesterol levels and taking your blood pressure, but what about checking the firmness of your handshake? New Canadian research suggests that grip strength could be another tool in assessing heart health.
Scientists out of McMaster University say a handshake test could shed light on reduced muscular strength, which is tied to risk of early death, disability and illness.
“Grip strength could be an easy and inexpensive test to assess an individual’s risk of death and cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Darryl Leong, an assistant professor of medicine at the university’s School of Medicine, said in a statement.
“Doctors or other health care professionals can measure grip strength to identify patients with major illnesses such as heart failure or stroke who are at particularly high risk of dying from their illness,” he said.
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The researchers looked at the health of almost 140,000 adults between 35 and 70 years old from 17 different countries for four years.
Their muscle strength was measured using a handgrip tool. Turns out, each time there was a five kilogram – or 11 pound – decline in grip strength, there was a one in six increased risk of death from all causes.
There was even a 17 per cent higher risk of death from either heart disease or stroke, the findings warned.
READ MORE: Pay attention to stroke warning signs, Heart and Stroke Foundation says
It’s unclear why this relationship exists, the researchers say. They note that a good grip also depends on size and weight – in this case, ethnicity also offered some disparities.
They suggest that more research needs to be done to identify the baseline cut-offs for a healthy grip strength in people from different countries.
READ MORE: 5 lifestyle changes to improve your heart’s health
They also say that it’s worth studying whether improving muscle strength could cut down on risk of heart disease.
The Canadian study was published Wednesday night in the British journal The Lancet.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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