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Studies showing an inverse association between muscular strength and mortality rates have been limited because of the means by which strength was measured, short-term follow-up, inclusion of only older participants, or confounding by cardiorespiratory fitness (which also is associated inversely with death). Texas investigators addressed these limitations in a prospective cohort study that involved 8762 men (age range, 20–80).
At baseline, participants underwent upper- and lower-body muscular strength tests using a standardized protocol. The participants were categorized into “lower,”“middle,” and “upper” muscle-strength groups. During an average follow-up of 18.9 years, 503 men died. After adjustment for factors such as age, physical activit…