{"doi":"10.46889/jcmr.2025.6201","title":"From Tiny Hands to Steady Hands to Weary Hands: Age-Related Change Rates in Grip Strength Across the Lifespan","abstract":"This study aimed to quantify the rate of change (kg/year) and percentage change (%) in grip strength across the lifespan (ages 3-85), stratified by gender and hand dominance. This was a cross-sectional observational study. Data were obtained from 3,901 noninstitutionalized U.S. residents aged 3 to 85 who had participated in the NIH Toolbox study. Grip strength was measured with a Jamar dynamometer and both the rate of change (kg/year) and percentage change (%) were calculated for the dominant and nondominant hands by gender. Results showed that grip strength change rates peaked early in life and then steadily declined with age. At age 14, males exhibited their highest annual gain (4.58 kg/year) and females peaked at age 11 (2.87 kg/year). After these peak ages, the change rate turned negative by early adulthood, marking the start of functional decline. By age 60, men were losing 0.35 kg of grip strength per year and women 0.30 kg per year. From ages 66 to 85, annual losses stabilized at approximately 0.35-0.37 kg for men and 0.27-0.28 kg for women. In relative terms, percentage loss accelerated after midlife: by age 50 males had lost 7.37% of their peak strength and females 3.13%. These percentage declines deepened to 22.96% in males and 25.23% in females by age 72 and further to 33.27% in males and 37.62% in females by age 85, illustrating a progressive, age-related decrease in muscle function. Knowing the reference values for the rate of grip strength decline during normal aging was essential for distinguishing healthy aging from early signs of muscle dysfunction. These values served as benchmarks to assess whether an individual’s decline was within the expected range or indicated a higher risk of frailty, sarcopenia or other age-related conditions.","journal":"Journal of Clinical Medical Research","year":2025,"id":566088,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8151,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":971368,"name":"Inga Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-4553-7130","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":40,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:56:36.440192Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}