A new study suggests that objective measurements of physical function such as grip strength (GS) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) have a strong and independent association with a lower incidence of heart failure (HF).
From the UK Biobank database, the researchers included 374,493 individuals for GS analysis and 57,053 individuals for CRF analysis. Associations between CRF and GS and incident HF were determined, with adjustments for known confounding variables.
The findings showed an 18 per cent lower risk for HF (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.76-0.88; P<.001) per one metabolic equivalent increment increase in CRF. Additionally, there was a 19 per cent reduction in the incidence of HF risk (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.77-0.86; P<.001) per 5 kg increment increase in GS. Following standardisation, the HR for CRF remained 0.50 per one standard deviation (SD) increment (95% CI, 0.38-0.65; P<.001) and for GS remained 0.65 per one SD increment (95% CI, 0.58-0.72; P<.001).
Writing in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the authors "suggest that GS should be further investigated for its clinical utility as a first-line screening in identifying people at high risk for HF, who may then benefit from CRF assessment to ascertain whether they fall into a higher risk group."
