A firm handshake could be an indicator of a long life, according to a decades-long study of more than 50,000 people conducted by the British research organization Medical Research Council.\nResearchers found a correlation between measures of grip strength, such as the strength of a handshake, and mortality. When studying an elderly population age 60 and older - whose members were not living in managed care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes - researchers determined that mortality rates for individuals with the weakest grip strength were 67 percent higher than those for individuals with the strongest grip strength. Researchers also examined other physical capability measures - such as walking rate, balance and ability to get up from a chair independently - that allow for the frail elderly to be evaluated in a quick, non-invasive manner. Although the study focuses on the elderly, researchers still can find grip strength differences within a younger population, which may contribute to preventative medicine tools.
-compiled by Jennifer Tran
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