Five-year trajectories of gait speed and hand grip strength in older adults with cardiometabolic multimorbidity: a national retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity, defined as the coexistence of diabetes and heart disease, is increasingly common in older adults and is associated with adverse health outcomes. While individual conditions such as diabetes or heart disease have been linked to declines in physical function, little is known about how their coexistence affects objective physical performance measures over time. This study aimed to compare changes in gait speed and hand grip strength over five years among older adults with and without cardiometabolic multimorbidity and to identify factors associated with these declines.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective secondary analysis of the National Health and Aging Trends Study linked to Medicare administrative data from 2015 to 2019. Community

SUBMITTER: Gore S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12466057 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature