TY - JOUR
T1 - International norms for adult handgrip strength
T2 - A systematic review of data on 2.4 million adults aged 20 to 100+ years from 69 countries and regions
AU - Tomkinson, Grant R.
AU - Lang, Justin J.
AU - Rubín, Lukáš
AU - McGrath, Ryan
AU - Gower, Bethany
AU - Boyle, Terry
AU - Klug, Marilyn G.
AU - Mayhew, Alexandra J.
AU - Blake, Henry T.
AU - Ortega, Francisco B.
AU - Cadenas-Sanchez, Cristina
AU - Magnussen, Costan G.
AU - Fraser, Brooklyn J.
AU - Kidokoro, Tetsuhiro
AU - Liu, Yang
AU - Christensen, Kaare
AU - Leong, Darryl P.
AU - iGRIPS Group
A2 - Aadahl, Mette
A2 - Abdin, Edimansyah
A2 - Alcazar, Julian
A2 - Alenazi, Aqeel
A2 - Alqahtani, Bader
A2 - Amaral, Cledir De A.
A2 - Amaral, Thatiana L.M.
A2 - Fernandes, Alex Andrade
A2 - Axelsson, Peter
A2 - Baldwin, Jennifer N.
A2 - Bammann, Karin
A2 - Barbosa, Aline R.
A2 - Bardo, Ameline
A2 - Bimali, Inosha
A2 - Bjerregaard, Peter
A2 - Bobak, Martin
A2 - Boreham, Colin A.
A2 - Bös, Klaus
A2 - Marins, João Carlos Bouzas
A2 - Burns, Joshua
A2 - Capkova, Nadezda
A2 - Castillo-Martínez, Lilia
A2 - Chen, Liang Kung
A2 - Choi, Siu Ming
A2 - Choong, Rebecca K.J.
A2 - Confortin, Susana C.
A2 - Cooper, Cyrus
A2 - Correa-Bautista, Jorge E.
A2 - Cournil, Amandine
A2 - Cruz, Grace
A2 - de Bruin, Eling D.
A2 - De Paz, José Antonio
A2 - Larsen, Lisbeth A.
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - BackgroundMuscular strength is a powerful marker of current health status and robust predictor of age-related disease and disability. Handgrip strength (HGS) using isometric dynamometry is a convenient, feasible, and widely used method of assessing muscular strength among people of all ages. While adult HGS norms have been published for many countries, no study has yet synthesized available data to produce international norms. The objective of this study was to generate international sex- and age-specific norms for absolute and body size-normalized HGS across the adult lifespan.
MethodsSystematic searches were conducted in 6 databases/web search engines (MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar) up to December 1, 2023. We included full-text peer-reviewed observational studies that reported normative HGS data for adults aged ≥20 years by sex and age. Pseudo data were generated using Monte Carlo simulation following harmonization for methodological variation. Population-weighted Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape were used to develop sex- and age-specific norms for absolute HGS (kg) and HGS normalized by height (Ht, m) squared (i.e., HGS/Ht2 in kg/m2). Norms were tabulated as percentile values (5th to 95th) and visualized as smoothed percentile curves.
ResultsWe included data from 100 unique observational studies representing 2,405,863 adults (51.9% female) aged 20 to 100+ years from 69 countries and regions tested from the year 2000 onward. On average, absolute and normalized HGS values negligibly improved throughout early adulthood, peaked from age 30–39 years (at 49.7 kg (males) and 29.7 kg (females) for absolute HGS or 16.3 kg/m2 (males) and 11.3 kg/m2 (females) for HGS/Ht2), and declined afterwards. The age-related decline in HGS accelerated from middle to late adulthood and was slightly larger for males than for females during middle adulthood.
ConclusionThis study provides the world's largest and most geographically comprehensive international norms for adult HGS by sex and age. These norms have utility for global peer-comparisons, health screening, and surveillance.
AB - BackgroundMuscular strength is a powerful marker of current health status and robust predictor of age-related disease and disability. Handgrip strength (HGS) using isometric dynamometry is a convenient, feasible, and widely used method of assessing muscular strength among people of all ages. While adult HGS norms have been published for many countries, no study has yet synthesized available data to produce international norms. The objective of this study was to generate international sex- and age-specific norms for absolute and body size-normalized HGS across the adult lifespan.
MethodsSystematic searches were conducted in 6 databases/web search engines (MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar) up to December 1, 2023. We included full-text peer-reviewed observational studies that reported normative HGS data for adults aged ≥20 years by sex and age. Pseudo data were generated using Monte Carlo simulation following harmonization for methodological variation. Population-weighted Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape were used to develop sex- and age-specific norms for absolute HGS (kg) and HGS normalized by height (Ht, m) squared (i.e., HGS/Ht2 in kg/m2). Norms were tabulated as percentile values (5th to 95th) and visualized as smoothed percentile curves.
ResultsWe included data from 100 unique observational studies representing 2,405,863 adults (51.9% female) aged 20 to 100+ years from 69 countries and regions tested from the year 2000 onward. On average, absolute and normalized HGS values negligibly improved throughout early adulthood, peaked from age 30–39 years (at 49.7 kg (males) and 29.7 kg (females) for absolute HGS or 16.3 kg/m2 (males) and 11.3 kg/m2 (females) for HGS/Ht2), and declined afterwards. The age-related decline in HGS accelerated from middle to late adulthood and was slightly larger for males than for females during middle adulthood.
ConclusionThis study provides the world's largest and most geographically comprehensive international norms for adult HGS by sex and age. These norms have utility for global peer-comparisons, health screening, and surveillance.
KW - Adult
KW - Hand strength
KW - Mass screening
KW - Population health
KW - Reference values
U2 - 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.101014
DO - 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.101014
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 39647778
AN - SCOPUS:85212417849
SN - 2095-2546
VL - 14
JO - Journal of Sport and Health Science
JF - Journal of Sport and Health Science
M1 - 101014
ER -