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Reduced physical capability at mid-life associated with higher mortality
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Higher rates of mortality were associated in a recent study with individuals who have lower levels of physical capability at age 53 years.
For the study, researchers assessed data for physical capability — grip strength, chair rise time and standing balance time — for 1,355 men and 1,411 women who were then linked to the U.K. National Health Service central death notification register.
The main outcome measure the researchers used was all-cause mortality between ages 53 and 66.
According to study results, those participants who could not perform the three measures of physical capability test, as well as those in the lowest performing fifth of the group overall, had higher mortality rates compared to participants in the highest fifth.
Rachel Cooper and colleagues adjusted for baseline covariates that partially attenuated the associations and found the main association remained in fully adjusted models. When compared with participants who were able to perform all three tests, participants who could not perform any of the tests had considerably higher rates of death.
When a series of models, which included different combinations of measures using likelihood ratio tests, were compared, the results showed all three measures of physical capability improved model fit.
Cooper and colleagues found that standing balance time had a stronger association with mortality than the other two measures, according to study results.
“Our findings suggest that people with relatively poor performance in mid-life in any one of these tests of physical capability are an important group for intervention, with those people unable to perform one or more of the tests or with poor performance on multiple tests particularly important target groups,” the researchers wrote. “Further research is needed to identify the most effective interventions to improve levels of physical capability in mid-life and to test whether these interventions have a positive impact on survival rates.” – by Casey Tingle
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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