Grip Strength as a Longevity Marker: What the PURE Study Found

Kim Berglin

Sep 4

2 min read

A look at the PURE study's findings on handgrip strength as a predictor of mortality, drawn from nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries.

A Global Study Tracked Handgrip Strength for Years

Researchers behind the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study measured handgrip strength in almost 140,000 adults across 17 countries and followed them for roughly four years, according to reporting in NEJM's Cardio Exchange. Consistency across very different economies and healthcare systems is part of what made the result notable.

Every 5-Kilogram Drop Raised Mortality Risk

A 5-kilogram decrease in grip strength tracked with a 16% increase in overall mortality risk and a 17% increase in both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality risk. A 5-kilogram decrease also tracked with a 7% increase in heart attack risk and a 9% increase in stroke risk, rounding out a consistent pattern across multiple causes of death.

Grip Strength Outpredicted Blood Pressure

Grip strength turned out to be a stronger predictor of death than systolic blood pressure in this analysis, a striking result given how central blood pressure already is to cardiovascular risk assessment. Grip strength predicted death in people who already had cardiovascular disease more powerfully than it predicted whether someone would develop cardiovascular disease in the first place.

A Simple Test Doesn't Yet Prove a Fix

Measuring grip strength with a handheld dynamometer is inexpensive and takes a few seconds, making it a practical screening tool worth discussing with a doctor. Whether deliberately building grip strength through training actually lowers mortality risk remains an open question the researchers themselves flagged as needing further study.

Bottom Line

Handgrip strength predicted mortality risk more strongly than blood pressure in a study spanning nearly 140,000 people across 17 countries. Tracking it over time, alongside resistance training aimed at maintaining muscle strength, is a reasonable precaution even while the causal question stays open.

Our piece on the 10,000 steps myth covers a related low-cost movement metric worth pairing with grip strength as a general fitness check.