The Diabetes Epidemic in the South Pacific: A Pilot Study Utilising Hand Grip Strength in Tonga

Background: Hand-grip strength (HGS) has been shown recently to help in predicting disease outcomes and assessing health risk, particularly in cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Studies confirming its link to diabetes (T2DM) suggest there is potential for its use as simple screening tool. This study examined this possibility in a developing-world population, in a cohort of Tongan diabetics. Methods: HGS was measured in a randomly selected cohort of patients, comprising in total 149 patients, of which 91 with and 58 without T2DM. Other measurements recorded included patient demographics, blood pressure and date of diabetes diagnosis. Results: HGS was found to reduce significantly with age in all groups and it also related to BMI in males. Binary logistics regression models were produced using ‘HGS,’ ‘Age’ and ‘BMI’ which had a sensitivity of 82-84% (M/F) and specificity of 50-57%. Conclusions: This study uses one of the well-known effects and complications of T2DM, affected hand grip strength of sufferers, as a parameter in a ‘tool’ to predict the presence of the disease showing very good sensitivity. Further research is needed into the more general utility of the tool, while further work may help identify among the diagnosed those who would benefit from specialist treatment.