Using grip strength to compute physical health-adjusted old age dependency ratios.

ABSTRACT: The standard approach for comparing the potential challenges of population aging across countries based on conventional old-age dependency ratios (OADR) does not account for cross-population differences in health, functional capacity or disability, despite their importance for labor force participation and dependency more broadly. We investigate how OADRs observed across selected low-, middle-, and high-income countries change if population differences in physical health measured by hand-grip strength are accounted for. Specifically, we propose and calculate an adjusted measure of the OADR based on hand-grip strength, which serves as an objective indicator of muscle function and has been shown to predict future morbidity, disability and mortality. We show that adjusting the OADR for differ

SUBMITTER: Kampfen F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7262450 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature