Table 2.

Prevalence (%) of low muscle strength by age, sex and study (using European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2) and alternative cut‐points ^a ) (N = 9431)

Cut‐points	EWGSOP2 recommendation (<27 kg men, <16 kg women)				Less conservative alternative (<32 kg men, <19 kg women)
	Men		Women		Men		Women
Age (years)	KYH	Tromsø 7	KYH	Tromsø 7	KYH	Tromsø 7	KYH	Tromsø 7
40–44	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.5	0.0	1.5	0.7
45–49	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.4	0.0	0.3	0.9
50–54	0.0	0.8	0.8	1.2	0.7	1.6	2.7	2.7
55–59	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.7	1.1	0.3	3.8	2.1
60–64	0.6	0.8	1.2	0.4	2.7	1.5	5.6	1.3
65–69	1.9	0.5	2.5	0.7	3.3	2.1	6.4	3.7
Age‐standardized b prevalence estimate for 40–69 years (95% CI)	0.4 (0.1, 0.6)	0.4 (0.2, 0.6)	0.5 (0.3, 0.7)	0.7 (0.4, 0.9)	1.1 (0.7, 1.6)	1.0 (0.7, 1.3)	2.8 (2.2, 3.3)	1.9 (1.5, 2.4)*
Age‐standardized b prevalence estimate for 60–69 years (95% CI)	1.1 (0.5, 1.8)	0.7 (0.4, 1.0)	1.8 (1.1, 2.5)	0.5 (0.3, 0.8)*	3.0 (1.9, 4.0)	1.8 (1.3, 2.3)	6.0 (4.7, 7.3)	2.5 (1.9, 3.0)*

^a EWGSOP2 ⁶ recommended cut‐points for low muscle strength based on a T score of −2.5 when using normative grip strength data from 12 British studies ²² the less conservative alternative applied is based on a T score of −2.0 using the same reference data.

^b Age‐standardized using the European population standard of 2013.

^*Test of difference in age‐standardized prevalence estimate between Tromsø 7 and Know Your Heart study participants, P < 0.05. P values are calculated separately for men and women.