title: Handgrip strength among nonagenarians and centenarians in three European regions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Handgrip strength is an important predictor of disability and mortality among old people. The aim was to compare the grip strength among very old people in three regions of Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this substudy of the European Challenge for Healthy Aging project, only the long-lived probands were included. The maximum value of three measurements of handgrip strength was selected for the analysis. Adjustment for factors known to be correlated with grip strength was made by linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 598 very old people (median age = 98 years) a clear North-South gradient was observed: For men, handgrip strength dropped from 24.2 kg in Southern Denmark to 20.8 kg in Languedoc-Roussillon, France and 14.2 kg in Calabria, Italy (p < .0001), whereas for women the drop was smaller (from 12.2 to 9.2 kg; p = .0021). The difference remains significant after adjustment for age, gender, housing, knee height, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale score, score on the Six-Item Mini-Mental State Examination, chair stand, and number of age-related diseases, although these factors explain two thirds of the variation in handgrip strength.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among nonagenarians and centenarians in three different European regions, we found a significant North-South gradient in handgrip strength with substantially lower values in Calabria. This finding may be due both to population background differences (e.g., genetic variations, birth weight, childhood growth) and to sociocultural differences (e.g., lifestyle, health care).
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Center, and Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense C, Denmark. bjeune@health.sdu.dk
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jeune
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skytthe
authors.forename: Amandine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cournil
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gampe
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berardelli
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andersen-Ranberg
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Passarino
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Debenedictis
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Robine
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male