By Marc Gilman
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Key Takeaways
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A simple hand squeeze is one of the better-studied predictors of mortality risk available. Grip strength — the force your hand and forearm muscles can produce — is measured in seconds with an inexpensive handheld device called a dynamometer, and a growing body of peer-reviewed research links it to future health outcomes.
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The landmark finding comes from the PURE study (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology), published in The Lancet in 2015: in nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries, every 5-kilogram decrease in grip strength was associated with a 16% higher risk of death from any cause and a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular death — and grip strength predicted death more accurately than systolic blood pressure, even after adjusting for age, activity level, smoking, and other factors.
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New 2026 research sharpens the picture specifically for older women. A study of over 5,000 women ages 63–99, published in JAMA Network Open in May 2026 by researchers at the University at Buffalo, found that each additional 7 kg of grip strength was associated with a 12% lower mortality risk — and the effect held even for women who didn’t meet standard exercise guidelines.
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It’s less useful for identifying who’s strong, and more useful for identifying who’s weak. Doctors describe grip strength as a signal of whole-body frailty risk, not a measure of forearm fitness for its own sake. Reference points for “weak” grip strength are below roughly 26 kg (57 lbs) for men and 16 kg (35 lbs) for women.
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Weak grip strength is linked to a wide range of future health risks — cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, dementia, and reduced immune response. It’s increasingly described by physicians as “another vital sign.”
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Training grip strength alone won’t move the needle on longevity by itself. The research is consistent: grip strength is a signal of overall strength and conditioning, not a target to train in isolation. Whole-body resistance training — not squeezing a tennis ball — is what the evidence actually supports.
What Exactly Is Grip Strength, and How Is It Measured?
Grip strength is measured with a handgrip dynamometer — a portable device you squeeze as hard as you can for a few seconds, which registers your force in kilograms. The test is typically repeated two or three times per hand, with the highest reading recorded. It takes just a few minutes, and devices range from under $100 for consumer versions to several hundred dollars for clinical-grade instruments used in research and medical settings.
While it isn’t yet used as widely as BMI as a general health screening tool, that’s changing. Some academic medical centers now incorporate grip strength testing into geriatric and neurological clinic visits, and researchers have found it associated with health outcomes in populations ranging from children to adults over 90.
What Does the Research Actually Show?
The single most-cited study on this topic is the PURE study, published in The Lancet in 2015. Researchers followed 139,691 adults ages 35–70 across 17 countries for an average of four years. The findings, per 5-kilogram decrease in grip strength:
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16% increased risk of death from any cause
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17% increased risk of cardiovascular death
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17% increased risk of non-cardiovascular death
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7% increased risk of heart attack
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9% increased risk of stroke
These associations held after adjusting for age, education, employment status, physical activity, tobacco, and alcohol use — and grip strength turned out to be a stronger predictor of death than systolic blood pressure, a far more commonly measured vital sign.
A more recent study adds an important, population-specific finding. Published in JAMA Network Open in May 2026, researchers led by Michael LaMonte at the University at Buffalo — with co-authors from the National Cancer Institute, UC San Diego, Texas A&M, Brown, Stanford, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center — followed more than 5,000 women ages 63 to 99 for eight years. Each additional 7 kg of grip strength was associated with a 12% lower mortality risk. A companion measure, the chair-stand (sit-to-stand) test, showed every 6-second improvement was associated with a 4% lower mortality rate. Notably, the benefit of greater strength held even among women who didn’t meet standard weekly exercise guidelines — suggesting strength itself, not just overall activity level, carries independent value.
Why Does a Hand Squeeze Predict So Much?
The forearm itself isn’t really the point. Physicians who study this describe grip strength as useful precisely because it’s highly correlated with strength and function throughout the entire body — not because forearm muscles themselves are clinically significant. A very weak grip is a strong signal of broader frailty risk.
That correlation is what makes it clinically useful as a quick screen. Weak grip strength has been associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, dementia, and even reduced immune response to common respiratory infections. Some physicians now describe it as “another vital sign” — not a diagnosis on its own, but a useful read on someone’s overall functional capacity.
What Counts as “Weak” vs. “Strong”?
Benchmarks vary somewhat by source and by how they’re defined (clinical “weakness” threshold vs. population median vs. an “excellent” upper range), but a reasonable composite picture looks like this:
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Weak / at-risk grip strength: below about 26 kg (57 lbs) for men, 16 kg (35 lbs) for women
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Typical (median) grip strength around age 50: about 48 kg (100 lbs) for men, 29 kg (64 lbs) for women
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Strong / “excellent” grip strength: above roughly 50 kg for men, 32 kg for women
Age, sex, and body size all affect what’s “normal” for a given individual, so these are reference ranges, not individual targets. Grip strength also naturally peaks in the 30s and declines gradually afterward, with the decline becoming more noticeable starting in the 50s and 60s as part of normal age-related muscle loss.
How Does This Connect to Aging and Frailty?
Muscle mass naturally starts declining in our 50s and 60s — a process called sarcopenia when it becomes progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. Grip strength is one of the more accessible ways to screen for that risk before it becomes a bigger problem.
Physicians who study aging describe the stakes directly: poor grip strength signals risk of losing function, falling, becoming frail, and losing mobility. It can also reflect general conditioning tied to a broader set of chronic disease risks.
The idea of a strength “buffer” is worth sitting with. If illness or a hospital stay causes a temporary loss of strength, having built up reserve capacity beforehand can be the difference between a full recovery and a steeper decline into sarcopenia. Once that decline starts, physicians note, it tends to accelerate.
Can You Improve Grip Strength — and Does It Actually Matter If You Do?
Here’s the nuance worth not missing: improving grip strength in isolation doesn’t necessarily improve overall health outcomes by itself. People with greater grip strength tend to have a lower biological age, but the evidence doesn’t support treating grip training as a standalone intervention — it works best as one part of broader strength and fitness training.
That said, hand and forearm strength matters for everyday function on its own terms — opening a jar, turning a key in a stiff lock — independent of what it predicts. Reasonable ways to build it include resistance-based grip trainers, farmer’s carries, and compound strength exercises (squats, deadlifts, rows) that engage grip as part of a larger movement, combined with adequate protein intake. Isolated repetitive squeezing (a stress ball or tennis ball) is not, by itself, a meaningful substitute for broader strength training.
None of the research suggests grip strength should replace BMI or other screening tools — it’s best understood as an additional, easy-to-collect data point alongside the rest of the picture.
Where Does Insurance Planning Fit In?
Frailty risk, functional decline, and the likelihood of needing extra support later in life are exactly the kinds of considerations that sit behind long-term care and hybrid life insurance planning. A simple, low-cost screening measure like grip strength doesn’t predict any one person’s individual outcome, but the broader, well-documented pattern it points to — that strength and functional capacity in your 50s, 60s, and beyond are connected to risk of falls, frailty, and chronic disease — is part of why planning for potential long-term care needs earlier, while you’re healthy and more insurable, tends to produce better options than waiting until a health event forces the question.
If you haven’t looked at how a long-term care rider, hybrid life policy, or other planning tools might fit into your broader retirement and health picture, this is a reasonable prompt to take a look.
What To Do Next
If you’d like to talk through how long-term care or longevity planning fits into your overall retirement and insurance picture, we’re happy to walk through your options.
Questions? Call (800) 927-9326 or email
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, “What Grip Strength Can Tell You About Your Health” by Sumathi Reddy (September 30, 2026), citing Mark Peterson (University of Michigan Medical School), Ryan McGrath (North Dakota State University), Dr. Michael Fredericson (Stanford Medicine Center for Longevity), and Dr. Linda Fried (Robert Butler Columbia Aging Center, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health); Leong DP, et al., “Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study,” The Lancet, 2015; LaMonte MJ, et al., “Muscular Strength and Mortality in Women Aged 63 to 99 Years,” JAMA Network Open, May 2026 (University at Buffalo, with the National Cancer Institute, UC San Diego, Texas A&M University, Brown University, Stanford University, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center); Cleveland Clinic, “Grip Strength” (health.clevelandclinic.org).
This article is for general educational purposes and is not medical advice. Grip strength is one of many health indicators and should not be used to self-diagnose any condition or to replace regular care from a qualified healthcare provider. This is not a recommendation to purchase any specific insurance product. Long-term care and hybrid life insurance products vary by issuing company, are subject to underwriting, and involve costs and limitations that should be reviewed carefully. Consult a licensed healthcare provider regarding your individual health, and a licensed insurance professional regarding your specific planning needs.
