Values of handgrip strength in a population of different age groups

Abstract

Introduction: With the process of human aging physiological changes occur throughout the course of life. One of these is the decline of handgrip strength, an aspect closely related to functionality and survival, especially of the elderly. Objective: to analyze the values of handgrip strength in a population of different age groups. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional study that analyzed the handgrip strength of 114 individuals (98 females and 16 males) between the ages of 20 and 87. Subjects were randomly selected, answered a structured questionnaire that covered questions about identification data, sociodemographic data (sex and age group) and health indicators (presence of diseases or chronic pain), and performed the manual dynamometry test. The study was carried out from March to November 2016. The data were cataloged in the Windows program Microsoft Excel 2013, where descriptive statistics, the test Student's t and the chi-square test were used to analyze them, assuming statistical significance p≤0.05. Results: Peak handgrip strength was in the age group 30 to 39 years (29.1 kgf ± 0.85 and 29.5 kgf ± 0.66 in the right and left hands, respectively). The men presented higher values of handgrip strength compared to women in the right hands (25.6 kgf ± 0.97, 17.4 kgf ± 0.66, respectively) and left (24.4 kgf ± 0.95, 17.1 kgf ± 0.78, respectively) (p=0.03). There was an association between increasing age and the prevalence of chronic diseases (p = 0.009) and chronic pain (p=0.02). Conclusion: the handgrip strength peak was higher in the 30-39 year age group, with a decrease thereafter. The men had higher values of handgrip strength and there was an increase in the occurrence of chronic diseases and chronic pain with advancing age.