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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Measurement of Spatial Stability in Precision Grip
Published on: June 4, 2020
Associations of Grip Strength Asymmetry With Multiple Health Outcomes
Wei Liu1, Xuefeng Lai2, Da Shi3
1Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Medical Big Data and Bioinformatics Research Centre, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
Introduction:
The relationships between grip strength asymmetry and cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all-cause mortality remain unclear.
Methods:
Among 443,132 UK Biobank participants enrolled from 2006 to 2010, grip strength asymmetry was defined as the ratio of left-hand grip strength (kg) to right-hand grip strength (kg) <0.9 or >1.1. The Cox proportional model was employed to assess the associations of grip strength asymmetry with cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all-cause mortality. Net reclassification improvement was assessed to evaluate the improvement in risk discrimination for outcomes after adding grip strength asymmetry to the model with established office-based risk factors.
Results:
After a mean follow-up of 12.1 years, 28,478 (6.4%) deaths occurred. grip strength asymmetry was significantly associated with all-cause (hazard ratio: 1.096; 95% CI=1.070, 1.122), cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio: 1.141; 95% CI=1.071, 1.216), respiratory disease (hazard ratio: 1.183; 95% CI=1.076, 1.301), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (hazard ratio: 1.284; 95% CI=1.087, 1.516), and cancer (hazard ratio: 1.051; 95% CI=1.017, 1.086) mortality. Significant associations of grip strength asymmetry with cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio: 1.029; 95% CI=1.004, 1.054), respiratory disease (hazard ratio: 1.074; 95% CI=1.051, 1.103), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (hazard ratio: 1.123; 95% CI=1.038, 1.215), and colorectal cancer (hazard ratio: 1.051; 95% CI=1.037, 1.066) incidence were observed. Moreover, adding grip strength asymmetry to a model with established office-based risk factors significantly improved the ability to predict all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease mortality.
Conclusions:
Grip strength asymmetry was associated with a range of adverse health outcomes and may have clinical use in predicting all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease mortalities. Further studies are warranted to validate the clinical value of the grip strength asymmetry assessment.
