Strong handshake may mean you will live longer, reports ‘Lancet’

A firm handshake, long supposed to be evidence of strong character, may also be an indicator of long life, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet.

According to the study of 140, 000 adults from 17 culturally and economically diverse countries, a weak grip is linked with a shorter life and a greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

The study found grip strength is a stronger predictor of death than systolic blood pressure, and the authors suggested it could be used as a quick, low-cost screening tool by doctors or other healthcare professionals to identify high-risk patients among people who develop major illnesses such as heart failure and stroke.

While the firm handshake may be just a matter of personal preference, reduced muscular strength, which can be measured by grip strength, has been consistently linked with early death, disability and illness. But until now, information on the prognostic value of grip strength was limited, and obtained mainly from certain high-income countries.

The current study followed 139 people aged between 35 and 70 years living in 17 countries. They took part in the Prospective Urban-Rural Epidemiology (Pure) study for an average of four years. Grip strength was assessed using a handgrip dynamometer.

The findings showed every 5kg decline in grip strength was associated with a 16 per cent increased risk of death from any cause, a 17 per cent greater risk of cardiovascular death, a 17per cent higher risk of non-cardiovascular mortality and more modest increases in the risk of having a heart attack (7 per cent) or a stroke (9 per cent).

These associations persisted even after taking into account differences in other factors such as age, education level, employment status, physical activity level and tobacco and alcohol use.

Prof Avan Aihie Sayer from the University of Southampton and Prof Thomas Kirkwood from Newcastle University, said: “This is not a new idea, but findings from Pure add support. Loss of grip strength is unlikely to lie on a single final common pathway for the adverse effects of ageing, but it might be a particularly good marker of underlying ageing processes, perhaps because of the rarity of muscle-specific diseases contributing to change in muscle function.”