Gait Speed and Handgrip Strength as Predictors of Incident Disability in Mexican Older Adults.

Physical performance tests are associated with different adverse outcomes in older people. The objective of this study was to test the association between handgrip strength and gait speed with incident disability in community-dwelling, well-functioning, Mexican older adults (age ≥70 years). Incident disability was defined as the onset of any difficulty in basic or instrumental activities of daily living. Of a total of 133 participants, 52.6% (n=70) experienced incident disability during one year of follow-up. Significant associations of handgrip strength (odds ratio [OR] 0.96, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 0.93-0.99) and gait speed (OR 0.27, 95%CI 0.07-0.99) with incident disability were reported. The inclusion of covariates in the models reduced the statistical significance of the associations without substantially modifying the magnitude of them. Handgrip strength and gait speed are independently associated with incident disability in Mexican older adults.