Association between grip strength and ADL and IADL impairment among older adults in Ireland and Europe: an analysis of the SHARE study

Introduction

Grip strength is associated with disability, frailty and adverse health outcomes in older adults. We explored associations between grip strength and functional impairment among older adults in Ireland and Europe using SHARE data and examined whether these associations differed between Irish participants and the wider European cohort.

Method

Cross-sectional analysis of adults aged ≥65 years from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Logistic regression was used to examine associations between grip strength and impairment in activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), adjusting for age and sex. Interaction terms were included to explore potential differences between Irish participants and the wider European cohort.

Results

Among 274,751 participants, 868 were from Ireland. Lower grip strength was associated with both ADL impairment (OR 0.963, p<0.001) and IADL impairment (OR 0.952, p<0.001). Significant grip strength–Ireland interaction terms were observed for both ADL impairment (OR 1.017, p=0.005) and IADL impairment (OR 1.032, p<0.001). Irish participants demonstrated lower mean grip strength than the wider European cohort (21.5 vs 24.9), despite similar ADL impairment rates and lower IADL impairment rates.

Conclusions

Lower grip strength was associated with both ADL and IADL impairment. Exploratory analyses suggested that the relationship between grip strength and functional impairment may differ between Irish and European participants. Given the small Irish sample and limited adjustment for potential confounders, these findings should be considered hypothesis-generating and require confirmation in future studies.