Dose-Response Association between Hand Dexterity and Functional Disability: A Longitudinal Study from the Kasama Study
- Author:
Namhoon LIM
1
;
Kenji TSUNODA
;
Jaehoon SEOL
;
Yujiro ASANO
;
Koki NAGATA
;
Taishi TSUJI
;
Keisuke FUJII
;
Yuya FUJII
;
Kaori TERAOKA
;
Tomohiro OKURA
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From: Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research 2025;29(4):468-476
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background:Poor hand dexterity may increase the risk of functional disability; however, few studies have examined the relationship between hand dexterity and incident functional disability. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the dose-response association of hand dexterity with incident functional disability in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods:This study included 1,069 older adults aged ≥65 years in Kasama City, Japan. Peg-moving and circle-drawing tasks were used to evaluate hand dexterity. Functional disability was identified using the Japanese Long-Term Care Insurance System database. Restricted cubic spline analysis was performed to investigate the dose-response association between hand dexterity and incident functional disability.
Results:During a mean follow-up of 8.5 years (maximum 14.0 years), 248 participants (23.2%) developed functional disability. The lowest performance group in each hand dexterity test had a significantly higher risk of functional disability than the highest performance group—peg-moving (hazard ratio [HR]=1.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29–2.87) and circle drawing (HR=1.66, 95% CI 1.15–2.41). Spline analysis confirmed curvilinear dose-response associations between hand dexterity and incident functional disability. Increased risk was observed when participants performed worse than the cut points (peg-moving, 37.9/38.0 seconds; circle drawing, 21/20 points), and no decreased risk was observed for those who performed better than these cut points.
Conclusion:Easily evaluated hand dexterity tests may be valuable for predicting functional disability in older adults. Curvilinear dose-response associations suggest that maintaining adequate hand dexterity could be a key strategy to support functional independence.
