Stronger Grip Strength Lowers the Risk of Developing Major Health Problems by 20% in Old Age
- Minhoo Jeong
- Nov 19
- 2 min read
Nov 19, 2025
Minhoo Jeong
Stronger grip strength is linked to a significantly lower risk of developing serious health problems in old age, according to new research. Grip strength, which measures how hard a person can squeeze with their hand, is one of the most commonly used indicators of muscular strength because it is simple to test and reflects the condition of the hand, arm, shoulder, and upper body muscles. It has long been recognized as a powerful marker of overall health, strongly associated with muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, insulin sensitivity, and the efficiency of energy metabolism. Since the muscles of the hands and arms are among the first to weaken with age, the World Health Organization included grip strength as a key vitality indicator in its “Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)” guidelines.
Grip strength typically peaks in a person’s 30s and then gradually declines. Data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency show that men aged 65 and older have an average grip strength of 33.7 kilograms, while women of the same age average 20.4 kilograms about a 25 percent decrease compared with people in their thirties. The decline is also steeper in women. Older adults with weaker grip strength tend to show higher rates of high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and diabetes.
A study from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), suggests that grip strength in midlife can be a strong predictor of long-term health. The researchers found that adults in their forties to sixties with stronger grip strength were much less likely to develop obesity-related diseases or experience premature death, even when they had high body-fat levels. The study followed 93,275 adults from the UK Biobank for more than 13 years, focusing on people classified as being in a “pre-clinical obesity” state—those with high BMI, large waist circumference, or high body-fat percentage but without diagnosed conditions such as diabetes, sleep apnea, or hypertension.
The results showed that for every increase of one standard deviation in grip strength (about 11.6 kilograms), the risk of developing a first major health problem decreased by 14 percent. The likelihood of progressing from one problem to multiple issues fell by 8 percent, and the risk of death after developing multiple conditions dropped by 13 percent. When participants were divided into three groups based on grip strength, the strongest group consistently showed the best outcomes. Over roughly ten years, they were 20 percent less likely to develop a first health problem, 12 percent less likely to see their condition worsen into multiple issues, and 23 percent less likely to die after experiencing several health complications compared with those in the weakest group.
To understand how diseases progressed, the researchers examined three pathways: individuals who were healthy at the start and later developed one condition, then multiple conditions, and eventually died; people who developed one condition but did not worsen before death; and those who died without experiencing any major health problem. In every pathway, participants with stronger grip strength at the beginning showed better outcomes. Maintaining high muscle strength throughout midlife appeared to protect individuals from severe obesity-related health problems as they aged.
