Do More Recent Born Generations of Older Adults Have Stronger Grip? A Comparison of Three Cohorts of 66- to 84-Year-Olds in the Tromsø Study

Abstract

BackgroundEvidence pertaining to whether more recent born generations of adults reaching old age have better physical capability than previous generations is scarce and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate birth cohort differences in grip strength.MethodsThe study comprised 5,595 individuals from the Tromsø study waves in 1994/1995, 2007/2008, and 2015/2016. Grip strength (bar) was measured using a Martin vigorimeter, and compared across three birth cohorts of 66- to 84-year-olds (born in: 1910–1929, 1923–1942, 1931–1949), as well as within narrower age bands to ensure nonoverlapping cohorts. Linear regression was applied, adjusted for age, education, smoking, physical activity, height, and weight.ResultsGrip strength increased across birth cohorts, and the increase was similar within narrower age bands and across genders. Overall, the increase in sex-adjusted mean grip strength when comparing the first and latest born cohorts, born 21 years apart, was 0.06 bar (95% CI 0.04, 0.07). Higher educational levels, and greater height and weight in the most recent born cohort explained 48% of this difference, while reduced smoking and physical inactivity in more recent born cohorts had little impact.ConclusionsOur findings suggest higher grip strength in more recent birth cohorts of older Norwegian adults, which can be partly attributed to higher education and greater height. This difference corresponded to a 5-year difference in grip strength; more recent born generations of 80-year-olds, therefore, have similar mean grip strength as 75-year-olds born one generation earlier.

Trends in grip strength: Age, period, and cohort effects on grip strength in older adults from Germany, Sweden, and Spain

“…However, we also found that younger cohorts exhibited increasingly weaker levels of grip strength than earlier cohorts. This is in contrast to earlier studies, in which it was generally found that grip strength improved in younger cohorts (Christensen et al, 2013; Jagger et al, 2016; Kingston et al, 2017; Strand et al, 2019; Zeng et al, 2017). Thus, combined with the finding that grip strength in adults aged under 65 years also stagnated or even decreased over time periods, these results concurrently suggest a possible expansion of morbidity in younger older adults.…”

“…For example, food shortages after the Second World War (WW2) might have reduced grip strength of persons born during or after that time. Again, several studies have focused on generational differences in grip strength (Christensen et al, 2013; Jagger et al, 2016; Kingston et al, 2017; Strand et al, 2019; Zeng, Feng, Hesketh, Christensen, & Vaupel, 2017). However, age, period, and cohort effects are likely to influence descriptive changes in grip strength simultaneously.…”

Geographic variations in hip fracture incidence in a high-risk country stretching into the Arctic: a NOREPOS study

“…An apparent decline in almost all counties in women, irrespective of the incidence in 2002, is consistent with a role of structural changes acting in the whole countryfor example healthier older adults [42], increased BMI [43] and decreased prevalence of cigarette smoking [43]. There may also be differences in bone mineral density that we have not been able to explore.…”

Differences in sarcopenia prevalence between upper-body and lower-body based EWGSOP2 muscle strength criteria: the Tromsø study 2015–2016

“…Grip strength differences between European regions might also influence this finding, as a similarly low prevalence (1.8%) of probable sarcopenia was recently found among older adults aged 70 years from northern Sweden [ 22 ]. Additionally, previous Tromsø Study findings indicate a temporal increase in muscle strength in the current study population [ 23 ].…”