Thresholds for clinical practice that directly link handgrip strength to remaining years of life: estimates based on longitudinal observational data.

HGS varies substantially with gender, age and body height. This confirms the importance of considering these heterogeneities when defining reference groups and risk thresholds. Moreover, survival appears to decrease at much higher levels of muscle strength than is assumed in previous literature, suggesting that medical practitioners should start to become concerned when HGS is slightly below that of the reference group.