Abstract

Subjective grip strength and subjective walking speed may reflect actual grip strength and walking speed, respectively, in older adults. We examined whether pre-frailty could be identified using subjective motor ability. This cross-sectional observational study included 367 community-dwelling older adults who participated in physical fitness sessions in 2023. Frailty status was assessed using the revised Japanese Cardiovascular Health Study (J-CHS) criteria. A modified J-CHS classification was constructed by replacing the grip strength and walking speed components of the revised J-CHS criteria with subjective grip strength and subjective walking speed, respectively. Physical function was compared between the robust and pre-frail groups using analysis of covariance. Agreement between the revised J-CHS criteria and the modified J-CHS classification using the “disagree only” threshold was 79.0%, with a weighted kappa coefficient of 0.692. Subjective grip strength showed moderate discriminative performance for identifying objective low grip strength, whereas subjective walking speed showed lower discriminative performance for identifying objective slow walking speed. Comparisons of physical function revealed significantly lower physical function in the pre-frail group than in the robust group for both classifications. These findings suggest that subjective motor ability may help screen for pre-frailty in community-dwelling older adults.

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