New guidelines align grip strength measurements with the early onset of type 2 diabetes.
Early stage type 2 diabetes may not produce obvious symptoms, making detection difficult and often leading to cardiovascular issues.
It is known, however, that the onset of type 2 diabetes may reveal itself through muscular weakness, which a reduction in the strength of a person’s grip can indicate.
This loss of grip strength can be an important diagnostic clue for the disease in adults who appear healthy otherwise. Until now, though, specific grip strength values that signify type 2 diabetes have not been available.
However, the researchers behind a new study have now identified specific grip strength cut points that indicate type 2 diabetes, making it possible for doctors to perform quick, easy testing for diabetes.
“Our study identifies the levels of handgrip strength/weakness that correlate with [type 2 diabetes] in otherwise healthy men and women, according to their body weights and ages,” says lead investigator Elise C. Brown, Ph.D., of Oakland University, Rochester, MI.
Scientists from Oakland University worked in collaboration with the University of West Scotland, which has campuses in southwestern Scotland and London, United Kingdom, to conduct this research.
The study appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
More than 34 million people in the United States currently have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of these individuals, 90–95% have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Although type 2 primarily affects adults over the age of 45, it is now appearing in an increasing number of younger adults, teenagers, and children.
The costs associated with undiagnosed prediabetes and diabetes in 2017 in the U.S. — $43.4 billion and $31.7 billion, respectively — reflect the impact of the disease on people’s lives.
People can manage diabetes, and early diagnosis can often