A study of the predictive value of different health indicators on the risk of all-cause mortality in older adults living in communities

OBJECTIVES: Intrinsic capacity(IC), self-rated health (SRH), and hand grip strength (HGS) reflect the health status from different aspects. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IC, SRH, SRH combined with HGS and all-cause mortality among Chinese older adults living in communities. METHODS: This study used data from the 2011 (baseline), 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2020 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). We evaluated IC, SRH, and HGS using questionnaires. We assessed baseline levels of IC, SRH, and SRH combined HGS. Using the COX proportional hazards model, we investigated the associations between baseline IC, SRH, and SRH combined HGS and all-cause mortality. We used receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) curves to compare the predictive effects of IC, SRH, and SRH combined HGS on all-cause mortality among Chinese older adults living in communities. RESULTS: At baseline (2011), the study included a total of 4095 participants. The multifactorial Cox regression analysis results showed that older adults had a much higher risk of death from any cause compared to those who said they were in good health and had a normal hand grip strength, those who said they were in fair health and had a low hand grip strength [HR = 3.959, 95 % CI (2.892-5.421)], those who said they were in bad health and had a normal hand grip strength [HR = 3.150, 95 % CI (2.392-4.148)], and those who said they were in bad health and had a low hand grip strength [HR = 4.189, 95 % CI (3.123-5.618)]. The study looked at older adults who lived in the community. The area under the ROC curves (AUC) for IC and SRH combined HGS to predict death from any cause was 0.726 [95 % CI (0.708-0.744)] and 0.704 [95 % CI (0.683-0.725)], respectively. CONCLUSION: Combining SRH and HGS improves older adults' health management by more accurately predicting the risk of all-cause mortality.