A preliminary study on the hand grip and pinch strength among adults in an indigenous people community in royal belum Forest, Malaysia

Handgrip strength is a general indicator of muscle strength and nutritional status of an adult population and is linked with premature mortality as well as physical disabilities. In this preliminary study, handgrip strength among adults in an indigenous community in Malaysia is measured using a cross-sectional study design. Structured questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, and hand strength measurements were taken. Overall, 28 adults aged 25 years and older participated in this study with 64.23% are males and all of them are from Jahai tribe. The overall sample mean (standard deviation) age are 39.8 (13.2) years. As expected, males have significantly higher recorded measurement than females (p< 0.05) both in handgrip and hand pinch strength with mean (standard deviation) of 30.6 (10.5) and 6.1 (2.4) respectively.