For older adults with diabetes, having weak hand grip—less than 35 kg for men or 20 kg for women—might be a strong sign they’re struggling with everyday tasks like dressing or cooking, and this simple test could be better than other methods at spotting who’s at risk of losing independence.

Older adults with diabetes who have weak hand grip are much more likely to struggle with everyday tasks like dressing or cooking, no matter which standard doctors use to define 'weak grip.'

For older Turkish adults with diabetes, a grip strength test using local average strength levels might be the best way to spot early signs of physical disability—better than other common cutoffs.

Grip strength can give a rough idea of whether older adults with diabetes might have trouble with daily activities, but it's not a super accurate test — all the different grip strength cutoffs work about the same, and none stand out as really strong predictors.

Older Turkish adults with diabetes show very different rates of weak grip strength depending on which medical guidelines doctors use — some methods say nearly 3 out of 4 have weakness, while another says less than half. This means the rules used can change who gets diagnosed with muscle weakness.