Grip strength as a frailty diagnostic component in geriatric inpatients

Figures & data

Table 1 Standardized coefficients for measures associated with grip strength in geriatric inpatients in the multivariate linear regression model (corrected R²=0.686), N=80

Measure	β coefficient ± SD	β coefficient 95% confidence interval	Partial correlation	Semipartial correlation	P-value
Mini-Mental State Examination	0.239±0.067	0.106–0.373	0.388	0.227	0.001
Statin treatment	0.213±0.065	0.083–0.343	0.359	0.207	0.002
Antidepressant treatment	−0.163±0.067	−0.296 to −0.029	−0.275	−0.154	0.018
Prior myocardial infarction	−0.190±0.067	−0.323 to −0.057	−0.319	−0.181	0.006
C-reactive protein	−0.253±0.067	−0.388 to −0.119	−0.406	−0.239	<0.001
Female sex	−0.671±0.065	−0.800 to −0.542	−0.773	−0.656	<0.001

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Clinical and functional characteristics of geriatric inpatients with frailty (FR) as compared to inpatients without frailty (NF)

Variable	Whole group (N=80) Mean ± SD	FR (n=32) Mean ± SD	NF (n=48) Mean ± SD	FR versus NF P-value
Age, years	78.6±7.0	80.0±6.9	77.7±7.0	0.164
Sex, percentage of females	68.8	71.9	66.7	0.625
Number of medications used	6.71±3.30	7.75±3.37	6.02±3.09	0.037
Body mass, kg	71.4±14.0	70.6±14.8	71.8±13.6	0.773
Growth, m	1.59±0.09	1.59±0.08	1.60±0.09	0.926
Body mass index, kg/m^2	27.8±4.8	27.6±4.8	28.0±4.9	0.903
Waist, cm	98.3±12.8	99.9±13.9	97.3±12.1	0.467
Waist–hip ratio	0.9±0.1	0.9±0.1	0.9±0.1	0.449
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	132.6±18.5	134.1±19.2	131.7±18.1	0.547
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg	76.5±10.2	76.87±11.34	76.25±9.54	0.849
Mini-Mental State Examination score	25.5±4.1	24.3±4.0	26.3±4.0	0.014
Geriatric Depression Scale	5.6±2.5	6.7±2.7	4.8±2.1	0.002
Barthel Index	79.9±19.0	68.9±20.4	87.3±14.0	<0.001
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale	19.7±5.9	16.4±5.6	21.8±5.1	<0.001
Modified timed up and go test, points	5.6±2.3	4.7±1.9	6.2±2.3	0.004
Visual Analog Scale, points	3.8±3.1	4.4±3.4	3.4±3.0	0.280
Red blood cells, T/L	4.3±0.6	4.1±0.8	4.4±0.5	0.036
Hemoglobin, g/dL	13.0±1.8	12.5±2.1	13.4±1.5	0.027
Hematocrit, %	38.3±4.9	36.9±5.8	39.2±3.9	0.100
Lymphocytes, G/L	1.7±0.7	1.4±0.4	1.8±0.8	0.006
C-reactive protein, mg/L	6.9±7.3	8.9±11.1	5.5±1.7	0.350
Albumin, g/L	39.1±4.8	37.8±5.6	39.9±4.0	0.036
Vitamin B12, pmol/L	378.1±261.3	415.0±374.1	352.9±140.9	0.770
Vitamin D, ng/mL	14.9±8.7	13.1±9.8	16.2±7.6	0.025
Total cholesterol, mg/dL	183.6±47.7	168.9±38.3	193.3±51.1	0.036
HDL-cholesterol, mg/dL	58.1±18.7	51.9±17.9	62.2±18.2	0.004
LDL-cholesterol, mg/dL	104.0±42.6	92.6±32.3	111.6±47.1	0.162
Triglycerides, mg/dL	100.8±35.6	105.7±36.9	97.5±34.7	0.270
Bilirubin, mg/dL	0.59±0.32	0.58±0.33	0.59±0.31	0.685
Sodium, mmol/L	140.7±3.4	140.1±3.3	141.1±3.5	0.062
Insulin, µIU/mL	12.4±12.3	14.1±7.5	11.2±7.1	0.988
Cortisol, ng/mL	166.8±230.9	141.3±59.8	183.9±294.1	0.420

Abbreviations: HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; SD, standard deviation

Table 3 Correlation between clinical, functional or laboratory measures and grip strength in geriatric inpatients (N=80)

Measure correlated with grip strength	Spearman R	P-value
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale	0.400	<0.001
Growth	0.381	<0.001
Mini-Mental State Examination score	0.380	<0.001
Barthel Index of activities of daily living	0.376	<0.001
Hemoglobin concentration	0.293	0.008
Body mass	0.282	0.011
Hematocrit	0.275	0.013
Lymphocyte count	0.268	0.015
Red blood cell count	0.264	0.018
Sodium concentration	0.263	0.018
Bilirubin concentration	0.232	0.038
Number of medications used	−0.332	0.002
Visual Analog Scale score	−0.371	<0.001
C-reactive protein concentration	−0.383	<0.001
Geriatric Depression Scale	−0.480	<0.001

Table 4 Comparison of GS between groups of geriatric inpatients with different demographic, clinical and functional characteristics with and without adjustment for sex

Characteristic	Patients with the characteristic	Patients without the characteristic	P-value
	GS ± SD, kg (number of patients)
Two-year survival	19.9±9.7 (70)	18.2±5.4 (10)	0.438
Two-year survival*	15.8±5.7 (70)	16.2±4.8 (10)	0.754
Sex (males versus females)	28.3±10.1 (25)	15.8±5.5 (55)	<0.001
Statin treatment	22.3±10.7 (37)	17.4±7.1 (43)	0.055
Statin treatment*	17.5±6.0 (37)	14.4±4.7 (43)	0.002
Prior myocardial infarction	15.2±5.8 (12)	20.5±9.5 (68)	0.097
Prior myocardial infarction*	11.7±4.3 (12)	16.4±5.4 (68)	0.007
Depression	17.2±8.3 (25)	20.8±9.5 (55)	0.069
Depression*	14.1±4.5	16.7±5.8	0.085
Antidepressant treatment	13.3±3.8 (11)	20.7±9.5 (69)	0.006
Antidepressant treatment*	11.5±3.4 (11)	16.6±5.5 (69)	0.004

Note:

* GS adjusted for sex: GS values in males were multiplied by a value 1 minus SP², where SP denotes a semipartial coefficient for female sex in the multivariate linear regression analysis (Table 1).

Abbreviations: GS, grip strength; SD, standard deviation.