Validity of self-reported measures of decreased muscle strength in older adults.
João Paulo Neves Mota, Cristina Camargo Pereira, Milara Barp and 5 others
PMID 41059823WHAT IT FOUND
Self-reported strength loss in older adults was not reliable enough to identify weak grip alone.
Feeling weaker found many true cases but also many people who were not weak. SARC-F caught fewer true cases but wrongly flagged fewer people. Use handgrip measurement when possible.
Key findings
01Perceived strength loss was the self-reported measure most likely to identify true decreased strength, and it performed similarly in women and men.
02The SARC-F measure was the self-reported measure least likely to wrongly flag people without decreased strength, especially in men, but it was less accurate overall than the other measures.
03Measured handgrip strength found decreased strength in 18.7% of participants, while perceived strength loss was reported by 74.2%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample came from primary healthcare users in one Brazilian city, so it may not represent all community-dwelling older adults. People with cognitive decline were excluded, so findings may not apply to older adults with dementia or significant cognitive impairment. The validity analysis did not include possible confounders such as acute, inflammatory, or musculoskeletal conditions that can affect grip strength measurement. Self-reported answers depended on how participants interpreted the questions, and prevalence varied widely across measures. For men, none of the self-reported measures had adequate accuracy, so results should be interpreted separately by sex.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The supplied text does not report other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat self-reported weakness or a SARC-F score as proof of reduced muscle strength. Perceived weakness identified many people who did not have measured weakness, and SARC-F missed more true cases while having lower overall accuracy; the measures were not adequate as standalone screening tools.