Handgrip strength is associated with mortality in community-dwelling older adults: the Yilan cohort study, Taiwan

INTRODUCTION: Hand grip strength (HGS) is one of the methods to help early identification of physical frailty and sarcopenia, the major concerns in the aging societies. It is also crucial to evaluate its impact on mortality. However, the available evidence regarding such impact among specific age cohorts (65 to 74 years and above) is limited. This study tried to investigate the relationship between HGS and mortality among specific cohorts of the community-dwelling older individuals in Yilan, Taiwan. METHODS: A seven-year longitudinal follow-up study was conducted involving 2,468 community-dwelling older individuals in Yilan. The participants were divided into two groups based on their quartiles of hand grip strength: with poor HGS and with good HGS. The association between HGS and mortality was examined using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that age, HGS, gender, medical history of cardiovascular diseases, body mass index, and wrist-hip ratio had significant impacts on seven-year survival. Specifically, individuals with poor HGS exhibited increased mortality, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.87 (95% CI: 1.52–2.30). Furthermore, the adverse effect of poor HGS on mortality was more pronounced in males aged 65–74 years (adjusted HR 4.12, 95% CI: 2.16–7.84), females aged 75 years or older (2.09, 1.43–3.04) and males aged 75 years or older (1.49, 1.07–2.07). CONCLUSION: Poor hand grip strength is an independent risk factor for mid-term mortality among community-dwelling older individuals in Yilan. The assessment of HGS can serve as a valuable tool in identifying older individuals at higher risk of death. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-17058-9.