Muscular strength, mobility in daily life and mental wellbeing among older adult Inuit in Greenland. The Greenland population health survey 2018

Figures & data

Figure 1. Greenland in the circumpolar region and 19 communities where data was collected in 2018. Names of villages in small font size.

Table 1. Population characteristics of 846 Greenlandic Inuit aged 55 + . Greenland Population Health Survey 2018.

	N	Mean (sd)	Range
Age (years)	846	65.5 (7.6)	55–94
Sex	N	%
Men	388	45.9
Women	458	54.1
Socioeconomic indices
Education
Primary/secondary school	423	50.2
Short further education (< 2 years)	275	32.6
Medium long further education (2–3 years)	132	15.7
Long further education (4+ years)	13	1.5
Missing	3	-
Household asset score
0–2	263	31.1
3	145	17.1
4	147	17.4
5	170	20.1
6	121	14.3

Table 2. Prevalence of muscular strength and pain, mobility in daily life, and wellbeing among Inuit in Greenland. N = 846.

		Muscular strength, pain			Mobility	Wellbeing
		Hand grip strength (kg)	Chair stand score	Muscle pain	Reduced mobility	Good self-rated health*	Satisfied with life**	Mentally robust (GHQ)***
		n = 763	n = 744	n = 841	n = 834	n = 842	n = 837	n = 560
	N	kg	score	score	%	%	%	%
Men	388	39.0	13.9	3.2	29.2	59.2	71.9	78.4
Women	458	22.3	11.5	3.3	47.9	55.4	76.1	66.2
	p	<0.001	<0.001	0.10	<0.001	0.30	0.18	<0.001
Age group
Men
55–59 years	104	45.1	15.9	3.3	17.5	58.7	62.1	77.9
60–64 years	88	43.1	14.5	3.0	20.7	64.8	72.7	81.2
65–69 years	85	36.5	13.2	3.2	28.2	56.5	78.8	80.7
70–74 years	63	33.6	12.2	3.1	38.7	46.0	72.6	79.4
75–79 years	33	27.8	11.0	3.1	56.3	71.9	78.1	61.5
80–84 years	12	27.6	10.2	3.3	63.6	75.0	75.0	-
85+ years	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	p	<0.001	<0.001	0.69	<0.001	0.10	0.16	0.59
Women
55–59 years	118	26.0	12.9	3.2	37.6	51.7	70.1	68.4
60–64 years	118	23.7	12.6	3.3	38.8	61.5	81.2	68.5
65–69 years	94	21.6	11.4	3.3	42.4	54.8	80.4	61.3
70–74 years	64	18.8	9.6	3.4	62.5	53.1	75.0	67.7
75–79 years	35	17.6	8.8	3.6	66.7	41.2	72.7	60.0
80–84 years	18	15.2	8.5	3.4	88.9	50.0	66.7	-
85+ years	11	13.9	3.4	3.0	90.9	100.0	81.8	-
	p	<0.001	<0.001	0.71	<0.001	0.18	0.37	0.85

* dichotomised into Really good, Very good vs. Average, Poor, Very poor

** dichotomised into Very satisfied vs. four categories of less satisfaction

***dichotomised into Robust (GHQ-12 score 0–1.5) vs. Vulnerable (GHQ-12 score 2+)

Table 3. Predictors for mobility in daily life among Greenlanders aged 55 + . Odds ratios for reduced mobility. Binary logistic regression models with all variables entered.

	Men		Women		All
Model 1 with hand grip strength (N = 755)	OR*	p	OR*	p	OR*	p
Gripstrength (kg)	0.94	0.002	0.93	0.003	0.94	<0.001
Age (year)	1.04	0.06	1.02	0.28	1.03	0.020
Sex	-	-	-	-	0.94	0.823
Social position (score)	0.96	0.62	0.79	0.001	0.86	0.006
Muscle pain (score)	1.77	<0.001	1.79	<0.001	1.78	<0.001
Model 2 with chair stand test score (N = 740)
Chair stand score (count)	0.88	<0.001	0.87	0.003	0.87	<0.001
Age (year)	1.06	0.005	1.03	0.28	1.05	0.001
Sex	-	-	-	-	1.92	<0.001
Social position (score)	0.90	0.62	0.83	0.001	0.86	0.010
Muscle pain (score)	1.53	<0.001	1.73	<0.001	1.64	<0.001

* Odds ratio for reduced mobility

Table 4. Association of muscular strength, muscle pain and mobility in daily life with three measures of mental wellness among Greenland Inuit aged 55 + . Binary logistic regression models with age and social position as confounders.

	Good self-rated health (N = 740–842)		Satisfied with life (N = 740–837)		Mentally robust (N = 517–560)
Men	OR*	p	OR*	p	OR*	p
Age (years)	1.02	0.17	1.04	0.011	0.99	0.62
Social position (score)	1.34	<0.001	1.13	0.09	1.18	0.08
Models with one predictor adjusted for age and social position
Model 1. Grip strength (kg)	1.02	0.33	1.03	0.05	1.01	0.52
Model 2. Chair stand score	1.07	0.004	1.10	<0.001	1.08	0.03
Model 3. Muscle pain (score)	0.71	<0.001	0.74	0.002	0.76	0.04
Model 4. Reduced mobility	0.50	0.005	0.38	<0.001	0.35	0.002
Model 5. Full model with grip strength, adjusted for age and social position
Grip strength (kg)	1.01	0.59	1.02	0.19	1.00	0.95
Muscle pain (score)	0.73	0.003	0.79	0.03	0.84	0.23
Reduced mobility	0.58	0.05	0.46	0.008	0.32	0.003
Model 6. Full model with chair stand score, adjusted for age and social position
Chair stand score	1.04	0.06	1.07	0.01	1.05	0.16
Muscle pain (score)	0.74	0.004	0.79	0.04	0.84	0.26
Reduced mobility	0.62	0.09	0.52	0.03	0.39	0.01
Women
Age (years)	1.03	0.04	1.05	0.01	1.01	0.78
Social position (score)	1.29	<0.001	1.55	<0.001	1.36	0.000
Models with one predictor adjusted for age and social position
Model 1. Grip strength (kg)	1.03	0.19	1.01	0.64	1.06	0.03
Model 2. Chair stand score	1.08	0.002	1.09	0.005	1.06	0.09
Model 3. Muscle pain (score)	0.53	<0.001	0.68	<0.001	0.79	0.04
Model 4. Reduced mobility	0.33	<0.001	0.44	0.001	0.61	0.06
Model 5. Full model with grip strength, adjusted for age and social position
Grip strength (kg)	1.01	0.75	0.99	0.83	1.05	0.05
Muscle pain (score)	0.62	<0.001	0.74	0.004	0.80	0.08
Reduced mobility	0.47	0.001	0.51	0.02	0.67	0.17
Model 6. Full model with chair stand score, adjusted for age and social position
Chair stand score	1.02	0.46	1.05	0.15	1.03	0.33
Muscle pain (score)	0.58	<0.001	0.81	0.07	0.83	0.15
Reduced mobility	0.52	0.008	0.60	0.08	0.79	0.43
All
Age (years)	1.03	0.010	1.04	0.001	1.00	0.819
Sex	0.89	0.419	1.30	0.103	0.52	0.001
Social position (score)	1.31	<0.001	1.32	<0.001	1.28	<0.001
Models with one predictor adjusted for age, sex and social position
Model 1. Grip strength (kg)	1.02	0.113	1.02	0.227	1.03	0.050
Model 2. Chair stand score	1.07	<0.001	1.09	<0.001	1.07	0.006
Model 3. Muscle pain (score)	0.61	<0.001	0.71	<0.001	0.78	0.003
Model 5. Full model with grip strength, adjusted for age and social position
Model 4. Reduced mobility	0.40	<0.001	0.41	<0.001	0.49	0.001
Grip strength (kg)	1.01	0.505	1.00	0.795	1.02	0.199
Model 6. Full model with chair stand score, adjusted for age and social position
Muscle pain (score)	0.67	<0.001	0.76	<0.001	0.82	0.042
Reduced mobility	0.51	<0.001	0.47	<0.001	0.51	0.003
Chair stand score	1.03	0.055	1.06	0.004	1.04	0.085
Muscle pain (score)	0.65	<0.001	0.80	0.006	0.85	0.090
Reduced mobility	0.56	0.002	0.56	0.005	0.60	0.032

* Odds ratio for good mental health

Table 5. Association of age, sex, social position, muscular strength, muscle pain and mobility in daily life with three measures of mental wellness among Greenland Inuit aged 55 + . Binary logistic regression with all variables entered in the models.

	Good self-rated health (N = 740–842)		Satisfied with life (N = 740–837)		Mentally robust (N = 517–560)
	OR*	p	OR*	p	OR*	p
Age (years)	1.05	0.002	1.07	0.000	1.02	0.273
Sex	1.30	0.333	2.31	0.006	0.72	0.370
Social position (score)	1.25	0.000	1.21	0.002	1.20	0.010
Grip strength (kg)	1.01	0.697	1.00	0.822	1.02	0.256
Chair stand score	1.04	0.046	1.05	0.014	1.03	0.271
Muscle pain (score)	0.68	0.000	0.80	0.007	0.83	0.073
Reduced mobility	0.54	0.001	0.51	0.002	0.55	0.014

* Odds ratio for good mental health