Muscle weakness is a symptom of type 2 diabetes. It could be detected with a simple handshake.
- The results revealed that the probability of being diabetic decreases by 50% with each additional unit of force.
- A correlation that is superior to several factors recognized as being able to cause diabetes such as age, tobacco or even blood sugar levels.
A simple handshake to detect one of the deadliest diseases? British and Finnish researchers suggest that the force of the handshake could identify people with type 2 diabetes. An alternative to the blood test aimed at measuring blood sugar, the current screening measure. The results of the study were published on September 3 in the journal Annals of Medicine.
A 20-year study
Muscle weakness is one of the hallmarks of type 2 diabetes and can be controlled with the handshake. To reach this conclusion, the researchers conducted their study on 776 volunteers, aged 69 to 72, for almost 20 years. The patients were subjected to four strength tests carried out with a hand dynamometer at four different times: at the start of the study, 4 years later, 11 years later and, finally, 20 years later. The results revealed that the probability of being diabetic decreases by 50% with each additional unit of force. A correlation that is greater than several factors known to cause diabetes: age, family history, tobacco, hypertension, physical activity and even blood sugar levels.
This offers a credible alternative to disease screening. “These findings may have implications for the development of type 2 diabetes prevention strategies.confirms Setor Kunutsor, lead author of the study. Measuring the handshake is simple, inexpensive and does not require special expertise or resources; it could also potentially be used in the early identification of individuals at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”
Not the first study
Further studies should be conducted to confirm these results to consider using this diabetes detection strategy. In a previous meta-analysis of ten studies, the same researchers showed that people who have high strength in the handshake have a 27% lower risk of developing this disease. The new study confirms that the decline in muscle strength is indeed a symptomatic factor of type 2 diabetes.
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